Mercato turistico e territorio in Sicilia

The Italian law n. 135/2001 introduced in the public organization of national tourism system a new territorial dimension, that is called Local Tourist System (LTS). A LTS encompasses natural and cultural resources localized in a bounded territory, while it is promoted by local authorities and firms. The action of the local actors is crucial for managing and promoting tourism flows towards a LTS as well as for organizing tourist resources and attractions in tourism packages for the market. On the basis of this law, more recently, the Sicilian Regional law n. 10/2005 instituted the Tourist Districts (TD), which are not still operative. A TD is characterized by the active presence of tourist firms, public institutions, a community of people in a geographical bounded area. All these actors benefit from linkages and interconnections. TD can be considered as an instrument that emphasizes local identities by introducing territories and local resources to the tourist market. In this work we propose an operative strategy that could be useful to mark a boundary of tourist territorial areas. We suggest to employ a composite indicator obtained by means of synthesis of demographic and economic simple measures related to the tourist supply. In order to observe an actual relationship between tourist supply and demand, we analyse a five years time series of arrivals in Catania and Palermo airports and seaports to detect tourist seasonality effect. The trend of tourist incoming shows a high concentration during summer season. It could be due to the influence of tourist policies which appear focused on seaside areas.

The Italian law n. 135/2001 introduced in the public organization of national tourism system a new territorial dimension, that is called Local Tourist System (LTS). A LTS encompasses natural and cultural resources localized in a bounded territory, while it is promoted by local authorities and firms. The action of the local actors is crucial for managing and promoting tourism flows towards a LTS as well as for organizing tourist resources and attractions in tourism packages for the market. On the basis of this law, more recently, the Sicilian Regional law n. 10/2005 instituted the Tourist Districts (TD), which are not still operative. A TD is characterized by the active presence of tourist firms, public institutions, a community of people in a geographical bounded area. All these actors benefit from linkages and interconnections. TD can be considered as an instrument that emphasizes local identities by introducing territories and local resources to the tourist market. In this work we propose an operative strategy that could be useful to mark a boundary of tourist territorial areas. We suggest to employ a composite indicator obtained by means of synthesis of demographic and economic simple measures related to the tourist supply. In order to observe an actual relationship between tourist supply and demand, we analyze a five years time series of arrivals in Catania and Palermo airports and seaports to detect tourist seasonality effect. The trend of tourist incoming shows a high concentration during summer season. It could be due to the influence of tourist policies which appear focused on seaside areas.