“Tourism is much more than just hotels and hospitality, tourists are our treasure,” says Eugenio Massetti who helms Visit Brescia.
Brescia welcomed over ten million visitors last year
The success of Brescia as a tourist paradise, with over ten million visitors last year, is now facing the problem of overtourism, particularly on Lake Garda and Lake Iseo. “Overtourism is the result of good promotional work,- admits Massetti who is also vice-president of the Brescia Chamber of Commerce and president of the Confartigianato small business and trade association, - but enough is enough. The challenge now is to diversify and promote other lesser-known areas. Like the Val Camonica, a paradise for winter sports, and the countryside of the Lower Bresciana, which represents half the province and has castles, rivers and landscapes that deserve to be discovered.”
“The year of culture was a point of departure”
In 2023 Brescia was Italy’s Capital of Culture, together with Bergamo. “The year of culture was not a point of arrival, but of departure. It allowed us to deploy significant economic resources, generating excellent results,” says Massetti whose aim is to promote more sustainable, inclusive, and high-quality travel opportunities that showcase the unique cultural and natural richness of the province of Brescia.
An increase in American visitors
The leading markets are Northern Europe, with Germans loyal to Lake Garda and the Dutch to Lake Iseo. “We are seeing an increase in American visitors, and are working hard on new markets like the Middle East and Canada, without forgetting the importance of the domestic market. There are still many Italians who do not know our territory.”
Wellness, wine and skiing are all popular
Visit Brescia has its sights on a high-level tourist interested in wellness, as well as on those arriving on low-cost flights at nearby airports. And if Lake Garda and the city of Brescia remain pillars of provincial tourism, the offer is much broader, from ski and winter holiday resorts to wine-growing Franciacorta, “an area that until twenty years ago was practically unknown, but now attracts visitors from all over the world.”
The goal is to get visitors to stay longer
“Tourism is not just measured in numbers,- concludes Massetti. -We do more tourists than Sicily, but our goal is to increase visits. We want travellers to stay an extra day or two., and we pamper them so that they come back again and again.”
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