L'Umbria è scoperta. Lasciati sorprendere. Percorsi in sicurezza

Umbria is discovered. Let yourself be surprised. Safe tourist thematic routes - The Covid-19 pandemic has shattered the tourism industry and impacted many cultural heritage practices, cultural and creative sectors and institutions as well as their communities, many of which depend on tourism. The fallout from the crisis has its social and economic effects also on the Umbria Region whose economy is largely based on tourism. On the other side, although this situation makes tourism highly vulnerable, this sector is also in a unique position to contribute to broader, recovery and revaluate programs and strategies, transforming the outbreak of Coronavirus as an important and evolving challenge to the tourism sector. The “Slow Tourism” proposed by the Umbria Region, which was probably a limit in the recent past, becomes now an opportunity to bring new, more sustainable, tourism ideas to the market, including tourist thematic routes and centers and working partnerships between academics, local governments and local stakeholders. Umbria is a key cultural tourism destination thanks to its cultural heritage that includes archaeological sites, historical cities, museums, music and gastronomy as well as sites of great geological and naturalistic importance which attract people from all over the world. The present project aims at promoting a more sustainable tourism to propose the creation of tourist thematic routes with the multiple objectives to raise synergies between tourism and culture related activities, to increase the impact on the local economy and, in the meantime, to improve the preservation and promotion of cultural and natural heritage. Just a few significant examples for the importance of heritage-based tourism are mentioned in this article, among many others offered by the Umbria Region.