The Covid-19 emergency has forced tourism to an unprecedented halt. Where can we start to get the sector moving again? Epipoli, the Italian FinTech Group, leader in payment systems and the first to introduce gift cards in Italy, is launching a tool dedicated to the most beautiful places in Italy, the driving force behind the rebirth of national tourism.
The Carta del Turista (Tourist Card) has been created to promote spending circuits in the area, involving local businesses, from restaurants to hotels, from museums to small artisans.
The initiative was presented at the “Il bello ed il buono dell’Italia – The tourism day” meeting organised by the Italian Association of CEOs, attended by Giorgio Palmucci, now president of Enit, Elena David, past president of Aiceo and former CEO of hotel chains, Eugenio Puddu, partner of Deloitte, and Gaetano Giannetto, president of Epipoli, among others.
“It was important – said Elena David – to gather all the best forces in the sector and stimulate their reflections on the evolution of post-pandemic tourism, trying to come up with concrete proposals for changing the tourism industry’s business model. The country’s ability to renew itself must find important ambassadors in the managers and entrepreneurs of this strategic sector of the economy”.
The objective of the day was to collect all the ideas in a “paper” that highlights the pragmatic initiatives that Aiceo offers to the institutional interlocutors in charge to enhance the available resources (Recovery Plan) with a view to a future digital and sustainable vision of the sector.
In particular, the Epipoli Carta del Turista (Tourist Card) is aimed at fostering the tourism supply chain throughout Italy, making available the possible resources of the Recovery Fund to reduce the economic impact of expenses for citizens and to stimulate the tourism induced in the territory.
Gaetano Giannetto, president and founder of Epipoli, explains: “The Carta del Turista is a valuable tool for institutions, local businesses and consumers, able to give the right boost to Italian tourism. We wanted to offer our know-how, the functionalities of our platform to the Italian regions, so that they can once again attract visitors“.
The solution proposed by Epipoli will make it possible to implement an integrated system capable of creating, optimising and managing the visitor database and interacting with them using advanced relational marketing models.
The Tourist Card, scalable and usable for the purchase of both services and products, will be valid in all the facilities affiliated with the reference region, which may include museums, restaurants, beach and leisure facilities or shops selling typical products.
It will be purchasable through one of Epipoli’s international distribution channels or according to the modalities foreseen by the individual region.