Destination marketing per le regioni alpine italiane: l'Alto Adige può essere considerato un benchmark? Indicazioni su come avere successo.

This thesis aims to identify best practices for destination marketing in Alpine regions, based on the hypothesis that South Tyrol can be considered a benchmark. Destination marketing has been recognised as fundamental for sustaining tourism and thus a destination’s economy and social development. Its significance has also been highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic crisis, revealing itself as fundamental for the recovery of the tourism sector. The first step of this research is a literature review on destination marketing issues, examining the main concepts and identifying some best practices. Subsequently, the literature on Alpine tourism is explored in depth, deriving the main demand trends and emerging difficulties and challenges. After outlining the case study of South Tyrol, this is compared with the best practices identified in the literature and with the performance of other tourist destinations. The results show that the region can be considered successful as a tourist destination, but further research would be needed to consider it a benchmark. Through interviews with tourism practitioners, including some representatives of the local DMO (Destination Marketing Organisation), this work investigates how South Tyrol managed some challenges that are typical for destination marketing, in order to derive best practices that can guide other Alpine destinations in the promotion of tourism. The method is therefore inductive, with the aim of filling the gap between theory and practice reported by some authors. The research confirms some best practices of the literature, like the need for a DMO to offer tangible benefits to stakeholders and the suggestion of involving them in the early stages of projects and initiatives to guarantee engagement and alignment. Also, local communities are confirmed as crucial stakeholders and many practitioners identified the role of DMOs in managing and resolving the negative effects of tourism. On the other hand, some rather new insights and key strategies are proposed. In particular, the significance of an organisational structure and the role of culture and environment as moderating factors for tourism policies’ implementation and success emerges. This last topic also impacts the replicability of the proposed best practices, suggesting that traditions, mentality, the local entrepreneurial fabric, and the significance of tourism for the economy influence the success of destination marketing policies.