Communication working group publishes final document

The Promotion of Sustainable Tourism Network of the UNESCO Dolomites Foundation, coordinated by the Province of Belluno, established a working group to explore problems connected to promotional communication regarding the area of the Dolomites World Heritage Site. After a series of meetings for training and discussion with various experts, a final document has been published setting out guidelines to follow for communication regarding the Dolomites, taking into account the values, fragility and problems of the UNESCO Property.

Ph. Alessandro Zardini

Participants and approach

The working group was coordinated by Prof. Umberto Martini, lecturer in Economics and Management at the University of Trento, and brought together representatives from the Provinces and Regions that are home to the nine systems of the Dolomites, along with members of local tourist agencies: DMO Dolomiti Bellunesi, Trentino Marketing, IDM Südtirol and Promoturismo FVG.

The meetings focused on four key issues identified from the 2023 Periodic Report: the value of the World Heritage Site and its limits, management of flows and overtourism, the climate crisis and impacts on modes of tourism, and visitor prudence and awareness.

Context

The document begins with a series of premises, which can be summarised as follows: approaches to communication regarding the mountain region can be an important driver of potentially improper and dangerous behaviour; social media has amplified this problem, fuelling conceptions that are incompatible with the values of the World Heritage Site; visitor flows driven by influencers, youtubers, bloggers and ordinary users are not easily controlled and the focus must be on local operators; mountain tourism has changed, both in terms of quantity and quality, and action is required not only on the communication front but also in terms of rules, information and culture.

Actions

The document goes on to identify several actions aimed at rooting communication in respect for the values of the World Heritage Site, rebalancing tourist flows, greater consideration of climate change and its impact on mountain tourism (water shortages, extreme weather, hydrogeological instability and glacial melting), and greater prudence built on awareness of individual limits and those of the surrounding environment.

Eight concrete actions have been identified: sharing the document contents; creating content aligned with it; disseminating an updated mountain culture from school age, working in collaboration, for example, with the CAI Italian Alpine Club, Mountain Rescue and various educational institutions; collaborating with the media; underlining the natural, landscape and cultural value of the World Heritage Site, avoiding focusing exclusively on the “beauty” of its places and undermining its true value; promoting dialogue with the various local actors, introducing rules and regulations aligned with the goals; in the context of partnerships with influencers, bloggers and youtubers, promoting content aligned with the principles set out in the document.

Read the document here.

This activity is part of the project “Capacity building. Strengthening the social and regional capital of the Dolomites World Heritage Site (WHS) for lasting and sustainable development of local communities”, established with the support of Fondo Comuni Confinanti.