The Regional Tourism Board Puglia Promozione

The modern years of tourism were between 2011 and 2015, during which the agency recruited a highly professional workforce, invested in the digitalization of systems and focuses on communication.  

The System for the Tourism Observatory (SPOT) was created, which collects data on tourist flows and the services provided, which the Observatory monitors and processes. The digitalization of the tourism system in Puglia is outlined by the Destination Management System (DMS), which today connects all tourism businesses with Pugliapromozione, both for administrative obligations and for participation in numerous tourism promotion activities.  

These were also the years of changing and evolving communication: we opted for content proposed by the operators and more than 24,000 events were promoted from 2011 through the Puglia Events program. SIRTur, the regional tourist information system, manages to network 150 local attractions and 450 cultural assets. As many as 180 municipalities are involved in the Puglia Open Days and Puglia Discovering projects designed to create and develop all-season tourism. Special open days for castles, museums, and many other cultural places, combined with particular food and wine events and workshops in unique places such as farms, oil mills and wine cellars. 

2014 was the decisive year for communication. The agency invested in an innovative promotion strategy: the WeAreInPuglia brand was launched, synonymous with identity and community. A simple and powerful claim, first used offline for the photographic campaign with Nikon and then online on social networks. A hashtag with 2 million shares, not only institutional but by everyone talking about Puglia. A participatory co-branding operation for major events, a success story discussed at the tables of the most important tourism fairs in Italy. 

The idea of having young people promote the region directly on social networks seemed to be the natural evolution of the new brand. Selected with a web casting on Facebook, eight travelers, from Puglia and beyond, talked online about the history, countryside, villages, customs and flavors of the territory, following four routes studied ad hoc to bring the #MyPugliaExperience to life. In 2014, this innovative promotional project went international with the arrival of twenty-four storytellers selected from the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Austria, ready to broadcast in real time on Instagram the unique experience of the region of Puglia.  

The path towards the international affirmation of the Puglia brand establishes its B2B identity with BuyPuglia, the action program dedicated to Business Meetings between world buyers and local sellers. An annual event that allows the Puglia business system to present its offer to a selection of operators from the main European and non-European markets, with the addition of Puglia Village in the early years, then the one-off events in conjunction with the tourist fairs and finally BuyPuglia Tours, organized by selecting some of the key cities for international incoming tourism, to which direct flights were activated from the airports of Bari and Brindisi.  

The culture of tourism in Puglia makes a deal with the region: from 2011 to 2015, 92 Tourist Information and Orientation Offices, called IATs, were opened all over Puglia. They were upgraded in 2016 to  Info-Points and are unique in Italy, identified by a single graphic concept, a single service charter and a single regional network that works in synergy to support tourists. 

And progress in Puglia never stops. We seek new unconventional ways of promoting the region: it's time for the WeAreCreativeInPuglia campaign, a project that, in 2016 and 2017, invited artists to imagine Puglia through their creative vision. On the walls of Berlin and Munich, street artist Agostino Iacocca painted giant olive trees and prickly pears. The artist Vito Savino created Uliverso Puglia for t-shirts and gadgets, a magical tangle of typical regional elements: the olive tree, the sea, the gozzo, the illuminations shown as dreams enclosed in a suitcase in the shape of a dry stone wall. 

Whereas the first years are those of discovery, of the evolution both in the means and in the way of communicating and establishing the brand on international markets, the following years, from 2016 to 2018, were dedicated to the development of a long-term vision . There is a strong need to develop a regional strategic tourism plan with a broad but defined time horizon.  

The Puglia365 strategic plan, which extends to 2025, was the result of a vast process of consultation and listening in the region. It started with the results of the previous four years and evolved dynamically in the following years, through a tourism participatory strategy that is continuously updated and shared. The resulting objective was to consolidate the tourism vocation of the Puglia Region in an increasingly competitive context by focusing on the construction of diversified and innovative tourist products and routes that allow for seasonal adjustment and attract more international incoming.  

We worked to multiply synergies and complementarities, to engage everyone, from business owners to administrators. The strategic plan was created, not surprisingly, within the broader context of the regional law on participation, which also includes visitors and potential tourists as well as the local people among its beneficiaries. The agency's activities extend from the areas of communication, promotion, enhancement and hospitality, to those of innovation, infrastructure and training. 

The seasonal adjustment process, in particular, found its expression in InPuglia365 - Cultura, Natura e Gusto, a public notice addressed to all operators in the sector, aimed at developing and enhancing the main tourist products and integrating the regional offer of experiential activities that can increase the attractiveness of Puglia as a travel destination. A selection of quality proposals and free experiences for travelers, and locals themselves, who wish to discover the beauty and specialities of the region: from nature to food and wine, from cultural heritage to lesser known attractions. 

The Digital Ecosystem of Tourism and Culture was established in line with the Digital Growth Plans for Puglia and Italy, intended to create continuous and concrete synergies between the tourism and cultural sectors. 

The development of the sharing economy was seized as a great opportunity as far back as 2015. Consumer-to-consumer transactions are growing and there is an increase in new forms of hospitality favored by the Web 2.0. In this case too, innovation supports the process of change: the evolution of the DMS makes it possible to survey and also insert these new forms of hospitality into the digital system that connects all the accommodation facilities in Puglia.  

2018 marked another decisive stage in the Pugliapromozione communication strategy: Puglia in New York, perhaps the boldest communication campaign that a regional tourism agency has ever launched. Objective: to win the hearts of American tourists. 

Online Puglia Travel Flavors, the digital platform that links food and tourism, the result of partnership between Expedia and Pugliapromozione. A website that develops authentic culinary content designed for American and British travelers, and links them to a city in Puglia to be discovered. A project that is part of the brand's communication strategy abroad, especially on the Anglo-American market. 

The New York Times made a special mention of this new destination to be discovered, which it defines as authentic and contemporary. Puglia was invited and awarded at the New York Travel Show as “Best New Exhibitor”.