Tourism in Matera: destagionalization, attractions, and cinema

The Technical Committee on Tourism met this morning at the Municipality to discuss the destagionalization of tourism flows, the valorization of the city's cultural attractions, and the booming film industry. Present at the meeting were the mayor, Domenico Bennardi, who also holds the position of Tourism delegate, the Councilor Tiziana D’Oppido (Culture and Cinema), the councilor Francesco Lisurici, and the manager Giulia Mancino. Also in attendance were representatives from various organizations including Confapi Turismo, Confesercenti, Confcommercio, Fiavet, Confguide, and others.

Councilor D’Oppido provided information on the initiatives that the municipal administration is already implementing, including the upcoming arrival of major film productions in the Sassi and the maintenance plan for the ancient districts. "Matera is increasingly known worldwide," said D’Oppido, "thanks in part to the film industry, and you operators should help us in welcoming these productions so that there are no rumors about alleged high costs of services. We are seriously working on planning optimal packages for major events and historical festivals to give you advance notice. I will try to attend all trade fairs, and regarding destagionalization, we are identifying suitable venues for indoor events during the winter, focusing, for example, on conventions and major exhibitions. Our goal is to organize concerts and events from May to October that will attract visitors."

The councilor also talked about the upcoming recognition of the Matera stretch of the Via Appia as a UNESCO site, urging operators to report any maintenance problems in the Sassi, "because they are now our main calling card." The operators asked the Municipality to plan events in advance with three-year programs, emphasizing the need to ensure stable flows distributed over at least 10 months a year in cultural venues that need to be reopened and revitalized. They also invited the administrators to regularly seek the opinion of operators before making strategic decisions.

The mayor, Bennardi, summed up the meeting, saying, "We need to continue to have continuous and structured discussions. With cultural venues, we need to work on safety measures and management, which has already been partially initiated. It is difficult to imagine a three-year call for events, as they are financed with the tourist tax, whose reporting is annual. How can we plan without knowing the resources available beyond 12 months? One thing is certain - Matera has good resources to allocate to tourism; we just need to plan investments well, and we are trying to do that." Councilor Lisurici emphasized the need to make the committee meetings periodic and structured, as well as focused on specific topics to gather ideas and proposals. The councilor also highlighted that, for the first time in recent years, they were able to organize the major events for Easter and Christmas 2023 well in advance, allowing everyone to plan their reception and tourist assistance activities better.