Florence Mayor Dario Nardella has
presented the "Destination Florence" project at the recent Buy
Tourism Online (BTO) online tourism expo, explaining that it was
a response "against the daily invasion, against quick
pass-through tourism; now we have moved on to the facts".
The project, which was developed by the Destination Florence
Convention and Visitors Bureau in partnership with the City of
Florence, aims to monitor tourist flows, diversify offerings,
and improve strategies.
German art historian Eike Schmidt, the director of the city's
Uffizi Gallery, said his museum will have seasonal prices
starting on March 1, which will be higher in the summer and
lower in the winter.
Schmidt said museum admission prices "can be an extremely
useful tool to help congestion in cities such as Florence,
Venice, and Rome during the summer; it would therefore be a big
shame to throw away this tool and not use it".
The Destination Florence platform uses a technological system
that is able to monitor the number of tourists present, tourism
usage, and hours in which tourist venues are most crowded.
It provides detailed information regarding where tourists
come from and their habits, in order to identify new ways for
booking at the large museums, as well as regulating prices based
on seasonal flows and demand, and the interest of returning
tourists".
Nardella said that it's necessary "to focus on quality and
sustainability, managing flows and accompanying them in places
that aren't always the usual ones, and to focus on civilization,
because tourism is civilization".
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