RIMINI - Money will no longer be the only ones to count in buying a trip but also the weight of our movements on the environment, or our Carbon Footprint which is a parameter used to estimate the greenhouse gas emissions caused by a product, by a service, by an organization, by an event or by an individual, generally expressed in tons of CO2 equivalent.
Does it seem like a distant future?
In the Nordic countries this is already done.
Mirko Lalli, CEO of Travel Appeal and expert in data analysis and online reviews, talked about it at ANSA among the pavilions of the TTG Travel Experience which closes today in Rimini.
Lalli first of all examines the situation: "We are definitely improving, you can see from our data, long-range confidence is also returning. We see a lot of searches for Italy also from the United States which had been completely stopped for months and a great desire to departure. Even a + 500% of flight bookings, however the relative figure - he underlines - is small because we start from zero. Obviously we are still 30-40% below the volumes of 2019 in terms of bookings but it is still an excellent The only thing we still can't see is the Far East and for some destinations it is quite a problem and also for a certain type of product, that linked to shopping and also to luxury.The Italian and European side - he continues - is marching at full speed and has already largely recovered the levels of 2019 ".
What is certain according to the expert is that we are now facing a completely different tourism. There is a repositioning of flows and needs and also of travel motivations.
So some operators feel completely displaced and find themselves having to rethink ".
Among the novelties, the issue of sustainability and respect for the environment is absolutely disruptive: "If you book a trip from Northern Europe - he says - they will immediately give you the Carbon Footprint. Travel agencies and tour operators specialized in calculating the impact have already been created. of the trip, the tons of Co2 and what can be improved. A Mastercard credit card has also been released for the Nordic market which, instead of giving you an economic ceiling, gives you a ceiling of kilos of CO2: you can spend until you reach a certain number of kilos, is a revolutionary concept. You can buy anything that has a low impact, anything that affects the environment and the world too much weighs on your ceiling ".
Behind all this there is an incredible attention especially of Generation Z but also of the younger groups towards sustainability and this thing will have an impact on travel. "In Northern Europe people - says Lalli - are almost ashamed to take the plane and therefore travel by train as much as possible.
Many destinations in Europe are working on it and it will also arrive in Italy. The sensitivity of the Italian public is not so high. but the operators are forced to deal with this new sensitivity because foreign urists ask for it ".
The pandemic that has brought tourism to its knees has also left him something good according to Lalli. "It accelerated the digitization that our country and the world needed. Cashless, Touchless, Contactless - he notes - are now in the public domain and it was a completely cultural problem. Then digital menus and concierges and even more".
The other positive thing that seems to emerge is a greater attention to the control of flows: "The good old overtourism, which everyone considers dead, will still be there, but there is undoubtedly greater awareness and some have taken advantage of the pandemic to begin with. to think about it seriously ".
The latest trend is the management of digital identity which has become more natural: "Finally - he concludes - there has been this collapse between physical and digital. The operators have understood that they have to manage Google My Business, reviews and they have to take care of their image online.
It seems trivial but it is not so especially in our country.
Incredible because they use all the reputation data, the banks also use them because if you have good reviews you invoice more ... ".
