Giuseppe Calignano

An assessment of agritourism in () in the era of the internet

Abstract

Apulia is the region with the highest overall growth rate of agritourism units in in the period 2008-2012. This article aims at analysing and assessing the prospective demand, dynamics, evolution and number of these specifi c rural facilities in Salento – a sub-region of Apulia formed by the provinces of , and – in the so-called “era of the internet”. By using quantitative and qualitative techniques it has been able to determine that Lecce is the leading province in Salento and in Apulia in terms of number and diffusion of agritourism facilities. Furthermore, the fi ndings of this study suggest that the possibilities offered by the internet and the new media are not suffi ciently used by agritourism operators in Salento and in other areas – like in Tuscany and Trentino-Alto Adige, where agritourism activities boast a long tradition – to promote their services and products they offer.

Keywords : Agritourism, Salento, Internet.

Introduction All of these subcategories – equally included in the concept of global tourism – have been created Throughout history tourism has been strongly with the aim of satisfying an increasingly demand- infl uenced and sometimes determined by chang- ing clientele. However, these “tourisms” can take es which have marked paths and evolution of credit for having led to rediscover values such as various societies. Several socioeconomic, cultural environmental safeguard and sustainability. and technological factors have led to the gradual The purpose of these “tourisms” is to be re- transition from the so-called “proto-tourism” – an sponsible and alternative to other forms of tour- expression including leisure and travel activities ism which are characterized by a strong human carried out from the classical antiquity till the impact: agritourism is included among these end of 1700s – to the forms of tourism, created ones. during the Industrial Revolution and precursors Agritourism can be defi ned as the ensemble of other several tourism experiences, which are of those « tourism hospitality activities carried out by named “modern” as a whole. Later, the success of farmers […] by using their rural facilities and combin- social tourism (beginning of 1900s), mass tour- ing tourism with farming, forestry and livestock activi- ism (1950s) and global tourism (1990s and 2000s) ties »2. have represented the most signifi cant stages of The fi rst agritourism facilities in Italy date back the recent history of tourism. to mid-1960s, but only recently – and specifi cally In modern tourism all these stages have had in in the last decade – their growth has been sub- common a consistent differentiation of the sup- stantial (ISTAT, 2013). ply. Indeed, since the mid-1800s new and varied Starting from these considerations and taking forms of tourism consumption – such as moun- into consideration the crucial role which the in- tain, lake and, although only later, seaside tour- ternet plays in supply and enjoyment of tourism ism – have been added to more traditional and services (i.e. communication and marketing stra- already successful forms of tourism (i.e. thermal, tegies, use and characteristics of media, target cultural and religious). market of tourists, information and booking sy- Therefore, on the basis of these assumptions stems), this article aims at analysing and assessing we should use the plural when we refer to tour- the prospective demand, dynamics, evolution and ism, since many other further subcategories (i.e. number of rural facilities in Salento – a sub-re- cycling holidays, wine and food tasting tourism, gion of Apulia formed by the provinces of Lecce, rural tourism, green tourism) have been added to Brindisi and Taranto – in the so-called “era of the the aforementioned “tourisms” 1. internet”.

AGEI - Geotema, 52 131 This study has been carried out by using quan- civilization; luxuriant vegetation, olive groves, vi- titative and qualitative techniques and secondary neyards, typical manor farms (called “masserie”, data or sources (offi cial national statistics, natio- often converted in agritourism) and “trulli” in the nal and regional regulations, previous literature ; important natural reserves along the on the topic, Google tools such as “Trend” and Adriatic coast. “Adwords”, analysis of social media). Finally, the is characterized The article is organised as follows: section 2 by the sandy and rocky shores of the Adriatic and defi nes the geographical, historical and cultural Ionian coastal areas; the fascinating and peculiar framework of Salento; section 3 determines the Baroque style especially in cities like Lecce and diffusion and the evolution of agritourism accom- Nardò; the area named Grecìa Salentina where the modations in Italy, Apulia and Salento; section 4 Greek culture and a language called “griko” (alre- (divided in several subparagraphs) detects the ady spoken in ) survive; and several number of agritourism facilities in Salento on the musical and cultural events such as “La Notte della internet and analyse the potential demand of this Taranta”, an itinerant musical festival ending with services in a comparative perspective by means of a fi nal concert in (Grecìa Salentina) several techniques and methodologies which will (Viaggiare in Puglia, 2014). “La Notte della Taran- be explained exhaustively later; fi nally, section 5 ta” is a very popular event held since 1998 which summarizes the contents of the previous sections gathers hundreds of thousands of people each and presents the conclusions. year coming from Italy and abroad. The fl ows of tourism in Salento continue to be mostly concentrated in the summer period, Geographical, historical and cultural although the regional and local authorities have characteristics of Salento tried to increase these fl ows in the low season by diversifying tourist activities and attractions both Historically and culturally speaking, Salento is on the coasts and the inland. an interprovincial sub-region in Apulia including the province of Lecce and part of the provinces of Brindisi and Taranto. However, for an easier com- The evolution of agritourism supply at national parative analysis, in this work Salento has been and regional level identifi ed with the whole provinces of Lecce, Brin- disi and Taranto. The fi rst agritourism facilities in Italy date back The two coastlines of Salento ( and to the 1960s and were created by a group of far- ) are extremely fascinating and cha- mers who created also a still important and re- racterized by both wide beaches and cliffs full of nowned association named “Agriturist”. This asso- splendid grottoes. Furthermore, as the sea is con- ciation took its fi rst steps in a period when most sidered one of the most beautiful in Italy, seaside Italians were abandoning the rural areas because tourism has been extremely successful. modern urban lifestyle was considered more con- However, there are several natural reserves and venient and rewarding. areas of great interest, where many habitats and Henceforth, agritourism in Italy has experien- species (especially fl ora) of “Community Impor- ced at least four different development phases tance” coexist. Furthermore, Salento is full of cul- (Rocca, 2013): tural, historical and architecture attractions. – the “cultural awareness” period (1965-1975) The is characterized by when the promoters of the fi rst agritourism fa- some important towns and popular tourist re- cilities tried to make the public opinion aware sources along the Ionic coast (i.e. the provincial of the perspectives of agritourism supply; capital and ), stone age sites (especially – the “experimentation” period (1975-1985), in the Murge), examples of ancient Grecian and when other important associations and guide- Messapian cultures, extensive olive groves and vi- books specifi cally concerning agritourism were neyards, very interesting archaeological parks and created. In this period, the growth of agritou- natural reserves. rism was signifi cant: indeed, there were 80 fa- The is characterized by the cilities with about 500 beds in 1975 and 1,500 tracks of Norman-Swabian and Angevin cultures facilities with more than 14.500 beds in 1985; on the inland (i.e. the castles of , Oria – in the third phase, defi ned as the “adjuste- and ); Roman archaeological ment” period (1985-1992), agritourism doubled areas (Egnazia); several remains of the Messapian amounting to 3,000 units. The phenomenon

132 AGEI - Geotema, 52 was by now widespread in Italy and involved also vely +2% and +4%) can be ascribed to the fact that Apulia and the coastal areas of Salento. in these areas the phenomenon of agritourism has – in the latest phase (1992-2008) a new substan- started and developed far in advance and it is by tial growth of agritourism was ascertained: in now well-established (Rocca, 2013). Consequently, 2008 there were 14,480 units even if their geo- these regions have strengthened their leading po- graphical distribution was extremely diversifi ed sition over the decades and for this reason their at national level compared with the previous pe- growth is slow today. riod. Indeed, almost 58% of Italian agritourism On the contrary, in other regions the growth rate were located in only 5 regions (Tuscany, Trenti- is far higher because in these areas the phenome- no-Alto Adige, Veneto, Lombardy and Umbria) non of agritourism is still in an expansive phase. (ISTAT, 2009). In particular, Apulia – the region where Salen- Finally, in the period 2008-2012 there was a fur- to is located – is the region with the highest ove- ther growth of agritourism facilities in Italy, which rall growth rate in Italy in the period 2008-2012: today are more than 20,000 (ISTAT, 2013). agritourism units here increased from 270 to 366 (+36%). Quantitative Analysis: agritourism in Italian regions Agritourism in Apulia and Salento Deepening the previous analysis relative to 2008-2012 and taking into consideration the re- Until December 2013 the agritourism activity in gional level, it emerges how the 5 aforementioned Apulia was regulated by a specifi c Regional Law regions (Tuscany, Trentino-Alto Adige, Veneto, approved in 1985 (L.R. 22 maggio 1985, n. 34) by Lombardy and Umbria) held again the fi rst posi- which the Regional Authorities aimed at promot- tions as for the overall number of agritourism units ing and incentivizing « agritourism activities with the per region. However, other two regions (Piedmont purpose of fostering territorial development and equili- and Emilia Romagna) exceeded 1,000 agritourism bration, support the permanence of farmers in rural ar- units. eas by means of the integration of incomes support and The thematic map in Fig. 1 shows the quanti- the improvement of their life conditions, optimizing the tative changes occurred between 2008 and 2012 existing buildings and natural rural heritage (also for concerning the number of agritourism units at re- tourist interests), promoting typical products and local gional level. traditions, creating a harmonious relationship between From the offi cial data shared by the ISTAT urban and rural areas, orienting tourist fl ows ». (2009, 2013) and pictured in Fig. 1 it emerges that According to this Regional Law, agritourism the number of agritourism units increased in 18 meant « hospitality and promotion activity carried out regions out of 20, even if the variation is someti- by the agricultural operators […] by means of company mes very different. and inter-company activities, whose main productive role Probably the low growth in some regions (espe- is agriculture ». cially Tuscany and Trentino-Alto Adige, respecti- The new Regional Law approved in December

Fig. 1. Agritourism units in the Italian regions, 2008 and 2012 (Source : ISTAT, 2009, 2013).

AGEI - Geotema, 52 133 40% 36% 31% 29% 29% 30% 22% 22% 21% 20% 19% 18% 20% 15% 9% 9% 10% 4% 4% 3% 2% 2% 0%

-10% Sicily Lazio Apulia Liguria Molise Veneto Umbria

-20% Marche Sardinia Tuscany Calabria Abruzzo Basilicata Piedmont Campania Lombardy

-30% Valley Aosta -7%

-40% Emilia-Romagna -43% Trentino-Alto Adige Trentino-Alto -50% Giulia Friuli-Venezia Fig. 2. Variation of agritourism units in Italian regions, 2008-2012 ( Source : ISTAT, 2009, 2013).

2013 (Legge Regionale 13 dicembre 2013 n. 43) almost 30 years since the previous Regional Law. introduced several changes regarding especially However, going beyond the merely legislative the defi nition and purposes of agritourism. aspect and the purposes of the Regional Law, it In addition to the previous objectives, the new must be stressed how the phenomenon of agritou- Regional Law includes the following aims: recov- rism in Apulia is peculiar at a regional level and ery and promotion of rural, natural and architec- apt to combine at least two different typologies of tural heritage; support to environment preser- agritourism. The resources of several agritourism vation and protection; promotion of traditional units in Apulia are linked to the sea, like other regional products of high quality; tutelage and Southern regions (Calabria, Sardinia and Sicily). promotion of local traditions; support to cultural However, agritourism in Apulia is also characteri- initiatives linked to the rural world; support to zed by many rural areas (Rocca, 2013). nutritional education; boost of relationships be- As highlighted above, Apulia is the region tween urban and rural areas. which scored the highest increase of agritourism Several changes concerned also a thorough units in the period 2008-2012. However, signifi - defi nition of “agritourism activities”. According cant differences have been observed in the con- to the new Regional Law, the defi nition of agri- centration of agritourism facilities within each tourism includes « accommodating campers in specifi - province in the region. cally equipped open spaces; serving mainly farm raised The three provinces of Lecce, Brindisi and Ta- food and beverages or produced in other farms within the ranto have a considerable importance from the same province, including alcoholic beverages and spirits numerical point of view at regional level. On the by promoting traditional regional agriculture and food, basis of the “Regional List of the Agritourism Ope- Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), Protected Geo- rators” (Elenco Regionale degli Operatori Agritu- graphical Indication (PGI) and “Prodotti di Puglia” ristici, Regione Puglia, forthcoming) it emerges products 3; organising leisure time, cultural, agricultur- how there are 1,685 subjects authorized to carry al and food, educational and sport activities as well as out agritourism activities in Apulia 4. Most of these excursions and horse riding tourism, within and outside are located in the province of Lecce (704 authori- the farmers’ property, also by means of agreements with zations), whereas the two other provinces scored a local authorities aiming at promoting the territory and very similar result (154 authorizations in Brindisi the rural heritage ». and 147 in Taranto). These fi gures relative to the Therefore, the new Law approved in 2013 drew provinces of Brindisi and Taranto are lower than on, expanded and updated several concepts con- the ones of Foggia and Bari (the regional capital tained in the previous one taking advantage of of Apulia), but higher than Barletta-Andria-Trani. the renewed interest in the environment protec- In the provinces of Salento (Lecce, Brindisi and tion and peculiarities of each territory (i.e. his- Taranto) is located 60% of the subjects authorized tory, culture, landscape, nature, food and wine, to carry out agritourism activities in Apulia. local tradition and so on) which has emerged in Going into details, it must be noted as the fi rst

134 AGEI - Geotema, 52 three towns with the highest number of authori- been calculated on the whole population of sub- zations in Salento are located in the province of jects authorized to carry out agritourism activities Lecce: respectively (Adriatic coast, 85 au- in Apulia: the results of Lecce and Brindisi are sim- thorizations); Nardò (Ionic coast, 57) and Melen- ilar (respectively 12.8 and 11.4) whereas the disper- dugno (Adriatic coast, 45). sion in the province of Taranto is lower (8.6). The localities with the highest number of ag- The provinces of Lecce, Brindisi and Taranto ritourism units in the other two provinces are are characterized by three different gradations respectively (Brindisi, 41 authorizations) (from white to dark-grey). The dimension of the and (Taranto, 40): these two mu- spheres represents the number of authorizations nicipalities are ranked 4 th and 5 th at regional level in each municipality. behind the three aforementioned centres located The highest concentration of authorizations in in the province of Lecce (see Fig 4). the province of Lecce emerges clearly. However, After this preliminary analysis, the standard de- it must be noted also how the number of autho- viation has been applied in order to understand rizations is well-balanced between coastal and in- how the data were scattered around the index of land areas in Lecce (even if the fi rst three towns central tendency 5. This measure of dispersion has with the highest number of agritourism units are

Fig. 3. Authorizations to carry out agritourism activities in Apulia ( Source : Regione Puglia, forthcoming).

 Fig. 4. Authorizations to carry out agritourism activities in the provinces of Lecce, Brindisi and Taranto, 2013 ( Source : Regione Puglia, forthcoming).

AGEI - Geotema, 52 135 located along the coasts) and how these authori- (52%), “looking for places able to satisfy personal zations are mainly located in inland areas in the (41%) or family and travel companions (30%) ae- provinces of Brindisi and Taranto. sthetic taste”, “fi nd incentives and ideas about the Finally, taking into consideration only the pro- place to visit” (35%). vincial capitals, Lecce has a signifi cant number of A crucial factor must be added to these moti- authorizations (35), whereas the presence of pro- vations: more and more frequently the “on-line” spective agritourism operators is extremely lim- tourist chooses to “deseasonalize” its vacation ited in Brindisi (10) and Taranto (5). (i.e. low season booking). Indeed, this issue has motivated 12% of those who decided to take a vacation in the low season in 2010, whereas they Tourism and the internet: the case of agritourism were only 2% in 2009 (Netcomm, ContactLab, in Salento 2010).

According to the appraisal of the Polytechnic Agritourism facilities in Salento on the internet University of Milan, the trade of Italian websites grew of 17% in 2013, with a sales volume of about In the fi rst phase of the analysis of the number 11.2 billion euros. Tourism is includes among the of agritourism units in Salento on the internet, sectors where the growth was higher (13%): such a research was carried out on the Google search a sector is ranked 4 th behind clothing (27%), in- engine by using the keywords “agriturismo lec- formation technology (24%) and grocery (18%) ce”, “agriturismo brindisi” and “agriturismo Ta- (Netcomm, ContactLab, 2013). ranto” 6. Later on, such a research has been repe- Furthermore, according to the E-Commerce ated for all the Italian provinces with the aim of Consumer Behavior, in 2010 the purchase of va- creating a ranking of keywords (and territories) cations on-line was the main driver of the e-com- in a comparative perspective. The tab. 1 shows merce sector in Italy, with a high percentage of the fi rst 10 positions of the ranking concerning tourists (equal to 88%) who have purchased their the webpages for each aforementioned couple vacation entirely on-line. Furthermore, the same of keywords (namely “agriturismo + name of the report highlighted how the consumers who pur- province”). chase their own vacations on the internet is usual- Before analysing in detail tab. 1, it must be ta- ly more “advanced” and less infl uenced by the ken into consideration that the overall number of “price barriers” (Netcomm, ContactLab, 2010). webpages is infl uenced by several factors. One of This fi gure relative to the price of vacation is very these is the absolute popularity of Milan, Venice interesting and it is stringently related to the be- and – but also Naples and Palermo – which haviour of the “cultural tourist” (in a broad sen- are big cities and internationally renowned tourist se): in 2004 the average expenditure of a “cultural destinations. A second factor is linked to the ho- tourist” was 101 euros per day, whereas the expen- monymy of certain terms: this is the case of “Pra- diture of a “general tourist” was 67 euros (Gros- to”, a town next to Florence, whose name in Ita- si, 2004). Although this fi gure is not particularly lian is written in the same way as “meadow”. Fur- new, it seems to be signifi cant because of the high thermore, also the level of activity on the internet difference observed between these two typologies of each area may infl uence the overall number of tourists. of webpages. Finally, it must be highlighted how The spending power of tourists is a crucial the aforementioned ranking changes radically by point inasmuch it leads to higher profi ts for tou- inserting different keywords or carrying out an rists businesses, to a lower environmental impact advanced search 7. (the criterion of sustainability) and to a decrease Apart from the necessary explanation about in the costs deriving from the human impact cau- the limits of the data-set pictured in tab. 1, it is evi- sed by mass tourism. dent that the fi rst 10 positions of this ranking do Furthermore, it must be stressed that according not represent faithfully the quantitative analysis to a recent survey those tourists who choose and carried out above concerning the overall number book their vacation on the internet have different of agritourism units in the various Italian region motivations as opposed to mere saving (which is (compare to 3.1 and Fig. 1). ranked at the bottom of the list with only 23% of The second position held by Piacenza (Emilia the answers). These motivations include “looking Romagna), just behind Milan, is surprising. In for a beautiful place where to spend the vacation” terms of webpages, the province of this small (54%), “paying attention to logistics information” city has exceeded those of bigger cities and re-

136 AGEI - Geotema, 52 Tab. 1. Number of webpages; Keywords: “agriturismo+name of the province”.

Position Province Region Internet pages 1 Milano Lombardy 50.800.000 2 Piacenza Emilia-Romagna 44.500.000 3 Venezia Veneto 39.200.000 4 Roma Lazio 34.200.000 5 Napoli Campania 27.100.000 6 Perugia Umbria 23.700.000 7 Palermo Sicily 21.200.000 8 Trieste Friuli Venezia Giulia 14.100.000 9 Prato Tuscany 14.100.000 10 Brescia Lombardy 12.700.000 22 Lecce Apulia 4.490.000 58 Brindisi Apulia 1.580.000 85 Taranto Apulia 625.000 Source : Google (2014). nowned tourist destinations (i.e. Venice, Rome The first one is Google Trend, a tool which com- and Naples, which are ranked respectively 3 th , 4 th pares the results of various keywords (up to a maxi- and 5 th ) as well as centres traditionally linked to mum of 5) and georeferences in an aggregate form rural tourism and agritourism such as Perugia the search coming from foreign countries. in Umbria. The second one is Adwords, a Google free tool Another interesting figure is the presence which is used by professionals to address their ad- in this ranking of regions like Lazio (driven by vertising to a targeted audience. Among the vari- Rome) and Friuli Venezia Giulia, two areas which ous options, Adwords shows the monthly overall are not particular renowned for the high number number of visualizations for one or more key- of agritourism units. words. The province of Florence, one of the most fa- mous and appreciated destination abroad, stays Search trend on the web regarding agritourism in out from the first 10 positions and holds only Salento the 11 th position (unexpectedly also behind the province of Brescia) with a number of webpages The first analysis on the search trend has been which is not so high (12.2 million pages) if com- carried out taking into consideration only the pared with the fame and importance of the Tus- term “agriturismo”, without any other geographic can city. reference. Lecce, Brindisi and Taranto stay out from the first The figure 5 shows how the interest for the 10 positions: the province of Lecce has scored the topic “agritourism” has progressively decreased best result (about 4.5 million pages, 22 nd position at after the peak in April 2006. The overall amount national level, 1 st position at regional level). Brindisi of searches in April 2014 was almost 50% lesser (1.85 million pages, 58 th position at national level) than 8 years earlier. Furthermore, such decrease and Taranto (650 hundred pages, 85 th position at in the interest about the topic agritourism involve national level) occupies respectively the intermedi- all the Italian regions. ate and the low side of the overall ranking. In the framework of a general decrease of inter- est in agritourism on the internet, it is Lecce again the province with the highest number of searches Search trends and overall number of visualization of on the internet in the period 2004-2014. The webpages regarding agritourism peak of interest was in March 2004 (result equal The previous analysis on the number of webpag- to 100), whereas the lowest result was in February es regarding agritourism in each province must be 2010 (result equal to 20). Furthermore, in Fig. 6 it deepened by adopting a different perspective (i.e. can be observed how the interest of Google users from the point of view of the potential demand) by towards the two provinces of Brindisi and Taranto means of the use of two free Google tools. is almost equivalent and how in winter the gap

AGEI - Geotema, 52 137 among the three provinces is lower whereas it is inces of Arezzo, Lecce, Bolzano and Trento. higher in the spring and in the summer. The result of Lecce is very interesting inasmuch After having determined which is the province it is better than the provinces of Trentino-Alto in Salento with the best trend on the internet in Adige and is not very different from the result of the period 2004-2014, the performances of the Arezzo (which is considered one of the most re- province of Lecce have been compared with those nowned areas because of its long tradition). of some provinces in Tuscany (Siena and Arezzo) and in Trentino-Alto Adige (Trento and Bolza- Average of the monthly search of the webpages regarding no) 8. agritourism in Salento In this case, the province of Siena has scored the best trend in the period 2004-2014 regarding The monthly average search analysis regarding the keyword “agriturismo”, followed by the prov- agritourism in Salento has been carried out by us-

Fig. 5. Trend of the keyword “agriturismo”, 2004-2014 ( Source : Google Trend, 2014).

Fig. 6. Trend of the keyword “agriturismo + province”, Lecce, Brindisi, Taranto; 2004-2014 ( Source : Google Trend, 2014).

Fig. 7. Trend of the keyword “agriturismo + province” Siena, Arezzo, Lecce, Trento, Bolzano; 2004-2014. ( Source : Google Trend, 2014).

138 AGEI - Geotema, 52 ing Google Adwords, an internet tool which com- searches of agritourism in the province of Lec- pares such averages in a two-year period (in this ce are far higher than those of the provinces case, June 2012-May 2014). of Brindisi and Taranto. The overall average In the fi rst phase of this empirical research the for the province of Lecce is 898,75 searches, fi gures have been obtained by inserting the key- whereas the average for the province of Brindi- word “agriturismo + province of Salento”. si is 258,75 and for the province of Taranto is Fig. 8 shows clearly as the average monthly 235,42.

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Fig. 8. Monthly average searches for the keyword “agriturismo + province”, Lecce, Brindisi and Taranto, 2012-2014 (Source : Google Adwords, 2014).

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Fig. 9. Monthly average searches for the keyword “agriturismo + province”, Siena, Arezzo, Lecce, Trento and Bolzano, 2012-2014 (Source : Google Adwords, 2014).

AGEI - Geotema, 52 139 The peak in the province of Lecce was in March Qualitative analysis of the diffusion of agritourism 2013 and April 2014 (1900 searches); in the prov- units on the internet ince of Brindisi it was in June 2013 (590); in the province of Taranto in March 2013 and April 2014 After checking the number of webpages regard- (the same as Lecce) and it was 590. ing agritourism facilities in each Italian province, In a second stage, the monthly average searches the search trend and the overall number of key- regarding agritourism in the province of Lecce words (in a comparative perspective), an analysis (the one with the highest score) has been com- of the each agritourism website in the province of pared with those of Siena, Arezzo, Trento and Lecce was carried out. Bolzano. Also in this case the comparison has The reason why only Lecce was taken into con- been carried out by using the keyword “agritu- sideration to carry out this analysis is that its prov- rismo + province”. ince numbers most agritourism units and is the First of all, this new comparison has confi rmed most requested by web users. the results of the search trend (see 4.2.2); further- A comparative approach has been used also to more, it has assessed precisely that the monthly carry out the qualitative analysis of the agritour- average searches are far higher for agritourism in ism websites. The websites in the province of Lec- the province of Siena (4092), followed by Arezzo ce were compared with the one in the provinces of (about 1692), Lecce (almost 899), Trento (about Arezzo and Trento. 481) and Bolzano (415). Such a comparison has been carried out on the Going beyond the merely numeric fi gures, the basis of the layout and the contents of the sites major differences in this comparison regard the and the presence on the main social media (Face- seasonal peaks in each province. Such a peak book, Twitter and Youtube). took place in April 2014 in Siena; in July and All the agritourism websites in the provinces of August 2012, in March, April and August 2013 Lecce, Arezzo and Trento found on the site of Ag- in Arezzo (2013); in August and November 2013 riturist were analysed as well as the fi rst agritour- in Trento (720); in November 2012 in Bolzano ism on the portal TripAdvisor (up to a maximum (880). As it was explained previously, the peaks of 5) and the fi rst 5 websites found using the key- in Lecce were in March 2013 and April 2014 (in word “agriturismo + province”. these months the searches of agritourism facili- Only the fi rst three pages available on the ties were the same as in Arezzo, i.e. 1900). search engine have been analised 9.

Fig. 10. Some pictures on the homepage of websites of agritourism units in province of Lecce ( Source : various internet websites, 2014).

140 AGEI - Geotema, 52 Agritourism in Salento: the layout of their website and which are regularly updated correspond to the their presence on the social media 10 ones of the agritourism units most active on Fa- cebook. The layouts of websites on agritourism of prov- As for Twitter, the fi srt unit has 202 tweets and ince of Lecce is not particularly innovative. The 530 followers, whereas the second one has 388 homepage of most sites (16 out of 19) shows big pic- tweets and 81 followers. tures or photogalleries usually placed in the middle 3 agritourism units have a Youtube channel. The or in the upper part of the page. Beside the usual uploaded videos are few (3, 4 and 5 for each agritou- pictures aiming to show the outside, the interior, rism units) and the views are only a few hundreds. the rooms and the green areas, these photogaller- ies include mainly some characteristics shots of the Comparisons with the agritourism units in the provinces countryside, especially olive groves. Nevertheless, of Arezzo and Bolzano in the webpages of agritourism facilities located near the coast, photos of the marine landscapes The websites in the province of Arezzo do not (not signifi cantly local) can be found, together have a layout more original than the one of the with stretches of coast photographs from the sky. websites in the province of Lecce. Their home- Olive trees and olives are the most frequent pages show an obsolete layout both because of a items, whereas only few agritourism websites show surplus of photos of the facilities (aereal views, in- in the homepage subjects such as oranges and lem- teriors and outside of the facilities) and the green ons, vines, cactus and wisteria. Occasionally the areas around them. homepage shows typical products on sale (mostly Only 2 units out of 24 have texts written only in olive oil, sometimes wine) and food cooked and Italian: the other 22 are written also in English, served in the facility. Sometimes episodes of rural Italian and German and few also in French, Spa- life and farming are shown. nish, Dutch and Russian. Most agritourism websites are translated in The same qualitative analysis has been carri- many languages: some are written in Italian and ed out on the websites of 11 units in the province in English, others in German as well. Few are tran- of Trento. Also their layouts are quite obsolete, slated into French, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Swe- except two sites whose layouts are quite original dish and Chinese. and whose photogalleries show beautiful interiors Most agritourism units appear only on Facebo- and outsides and green areas and the mountains ok, where 15 units out of 19 can be found. Most of surrounding the facilities. Most agritourism units them do not have their page but only a personal show the most renowned local products (apples) profi le. The fi ve agritourism units owning a page and the logo of important fruit companies or as- on Facebook have respectively 0, 3, 56, 209, 359, sociations. Pictures of snowy landscapes can be 592 and 707 fans. It must be added that only the found next to shots of sunny spring days. Facebook page of the last agritourism unit is really 6 sites are written in Italian, English and Ger- active on the social network. Actually, no posts ap- man, 1 in Italian and English, 1 in Italian, English, pear in the fi rst two pages (0 and 3 fans), whereas German and Dutch, and 3 only in Italian. in the page with 56 fans the latest post dates back to As far as the social media are concerned, the si- 5th July 2013; page with 209 fans has not been upda- tuation of agritourism units in Arezzo and Trento ted since 29 th April 2014; the one with 359 fans has is similar and sometimes worse than the ones in not been updated since 8 th April 2014 and the one the province of Lecce. with 592 fans was updated the 7 th April 2014 (the In the province of Arezzo too the most used so- previous post dates back to the 9 th November 2013). cial media is Facebook, whereas Facebook is the The performance of the agritourism units only social media used in the province of Trento. owning a personal profi le on Facebook is more Most specifi cally, 17 agritourism units, out of intense as these profi les are updated quite regu- the 24, which were analyzed in the province of larly, even if the interaction (with the friends) is Arezzo have an account on Facebook. Most have minimal. a whole Facebook page (14 units); 2 units have The presence on the other social media is next a personal profi le and only 1 has a group page. to nothing 11 . The diffusion and the interaction of these units 3 agritourism units have a profi le on Twitter, are poor. Many pages have a limited number of but only 2 are active. They have also their page fans (a few dozens or little more than 100 users) on Facebook and can rely on the highest number and most are rarely updated or are not active at of “I Like”. Furthermore, the two Twitter profi les all, except few units having between 200 and 800

AGEI - Geotema, 52 141 fans. Only 1 unit has more than 1,000 fans, it is It is worthwhile noticing the poor attention updated regularly and can rely on a quite fre- agritourism units in the province of Lecce pay quent interaction with the users. to the internet and social media, an attitude that As for Trento, 10 units out of 11 are on Facebo- Lecce has in common with provinces of Arezzo ok, but the interaction with the users is minimal. and Trento. The layouts of the websites is poor- The highest number of “I Like” is 297. ly looked after and not very original. They are The diffusion of agritourism units in Arezzo on scarcely present on the social media (mainly on Twitter is higher than Lecce: there are 6 units but Facebook) and their interaction with the users is only 3 can rely on a good number of tweets (re- extremely limited. Such are the characteristics of spectively 1346, 312 and 115) and followers (672, the agritourism websites in the province of Lecce 519 and 83). No agritourism units in the province on the web. of Trento is on Twitter. Internet and the new media have become fun- As for Youtube, Arezzo and Lecce are similar: damental to promote tourism also for the char- few facilities have their own channel (only 3). The acteristics of the people choosing and booking videos are scarce (maximum 4), the views are a the vacation on the web. Generally speaking, they few hundred (except one video posted by a unit are better clients, not afraid of high prices and in the province of Arezzo with 11,500 views, but it who prefer to “deseasonalise” their vacation (Net- is a 1 minute video showing typical Tuscan ballets comm, ContactLab, 2010). with no link to the core activity). All these considerations suggest that the possi- No facilities in the province of Trento appear bilities offered by the internet and the new media on Youtube. are not suffi ciently used by agritourism operators in Italy to promote their services and products they offer. Discussion about the results and conclusions

This study has shown that Apulia has scored References the most relevant increase as for agritourism facil- ities in the period 2008-2012 (+36%, ISTAT, 2009, Bellencin Meneghel G. (Ed.) (1991), Agriturismo in Italia. 2013). In spite of that, Apulia is still in a backward Pàtron, Bologna. Celant A., Magni C. (Eds.) (2001), Sviluppo rurale e agriturismo position as for the total number of agritourism di qualità nel Mezzogiorno. Il caso delle regioni Campania Puglia th units (366 in 2012, 17 position at national level). Sardegna e Sicilia. Pàtron, Bologna. Furthermore, the geographic distribution of agri- Grossi R. (Ed.) (2004), Politiche, strategie e strumenti per la cul- tourism in Apulia has been assessed together with tura. Secondo Rapporto Annuale Federculture 2004 . Umberto a deeper analysis of the situation in Salento. Allemandi & Co., Torino. ISTAT (2009), Le aziende agrituristiche inItalia2008. http:// It has been ascertained that the geographical www.Istat.it/it/files/2011/02/testointegrale20091113. distribution of the agritourim activities units in pdf?title=Le+aziende+agrituristiche+in+Italia+-+13%2 Salento is not homogenous as most can be found Fnov%2F2009+-+testointegrale20091113.pdf, accessed in the province of Lecce, where the authorization 30/05/2014. are 704 (i.e. 70% of Salento and 42% of Apulia). ISTAT (2010), Le aziende agrituristiche inItalia2009. http://www3. Istat.it/salastampa/comunicati/non_calendario/20101112_00/ The discussion about the diffusion and the be- testointegrale20101112.pdf, accessed 30/05/2014. havior of the operators from Salento on the inter- ISTAT (2012), Le aziende agrituristiche inItalia2010. http://www. net leads to compare with the situation in Tuscany Istat.it/it/archivio/51069, accessed 30/05/2014. and Trentino-Alto Adige, where agritourism boast ISTAT (2012), Le aziende agrituristiche inItalia2011. http://www. Istat.it/it/archivio/74602, accessed 30/05/2014. a long tradition. The number of webpages of the ISTAT (2013), Le aziende agrituristiche inItalia2012.http://www. agritourism units in Salento is just acceptable in Istat.it/it/archivio/103202, accessed 30/05/2014. Lecce (22 nd position at national level) and inad- NETCOMM, CONTACTLAB (2010), E-Commerce Consumer Be- equate for Brindisi and Taranto (respectively 58 th havior. http://www.primaonline.it/wp-content/uploads/ and 85 th position). allegati/1285232585Report-Web-Vacanze_ABSTRACT.doc, accessed 30/05/2014. In any case, it is evident that the province of NETCOMM, CONTACTLAB (2013), Ecommerce un volano Lecce is the most searched on the web. Both the per la ripresa del Made in Italy. http://www.consorzio- analysis of the search trend and the overall num- netcomm.it/ImagePub.aspx?id=125130, accessed 30/05/ ber of monthly searches plays Lecce in a interme- 2014. Regione Puglia (forthcoming), Elenco Regionale degli Operatori diate position between the provinces of Siena and Agrituristici. Arezzo in Tuscany and Trento and Bolzano in Rocca G. (2013), Dal prototurismo al turismo globale. Momenti, per- Trentino-Alto Adige. corsi di ricerca, casi di studio. Giappichelli, Torino.

142 AGEI - Geotema, 52 Notes repeated with other similar keywords and has sometimes produced very different results. For instance, if the keywords 1 For a broad historical and geographical survey of agritourism [“agriturismo” and “name of the province”] are used the and the different types of tourism, see, among the others, Bel- result shown in tab. 1 is challenged and Lecce holds 8th at lencini Meneghel (1991) and Rocca (2013). national level (about 7 million searches). Nevertheless, the 2 Legge 20 febbraio 2006, n. 96 - Disciplina dell’agriturismo. keyword “agritourismo + name of the province” has been 3 “Prodotti di Puglia”, “Products of Apulia”, is a collective label used to compare the different provinces because it is likely for identifying regional products. to be the most used. 4 The number is quite different from the one shown previously 8 We have taken into consideration the two regions with the (ISTAT, 2013) because the ISTAT data refer to active agritour- longest tradition in agritourism (Tuscany and Trentino-Alto ism facilities, whereas in this case we take into consideration Adige) and the provinces within Tuscany with the number of the number of subjects authorized to work as agritourism op- webpages more similar to the one of Lecce. erators without considering if they actually perform (Regione 9 The methodology we have explained shows why in this case Puglia, forthcoming). The comparison among the provinces the agritourism units in the province of Siena and Bolzano in Apulia and in Salento has been made on the basis of the have not been used in this comparison. In both cases, the dif- Regional List of the Agritourism Operators because it permits ferences with the province of Lecce were too strong to make to disaggregate the operators at provincial level, whereas the a good comparison: in the province of Siena the number of ISTAT data are available on a regional scale. agritourism units was far higher, whereas in the province of 5 The standard deviation is a statistical index to measure the Bolzano it was far lower than Lecce. dispersion of single observations around the arithmetical aver- 10 The comparison of the qualitative diffusion of the agritouri- age. sm units in the provinces of Lecce, Arezzo and Trento on the 6 All the searches on the internet have been carried out using social media was made from 26th May to 2nd June 2014. Italian words as the use of the same words in English has not 11. It was not possible to count the actual number of frien- given any signifi cant result. dships as the profi les are blocked and do not show any infor- 7 The research about the number of webpages has been mation.

AGEI - Geotema, 52 143