- Read the article on the city of Matera in Italy that is designated as a European Capital of Culture in 2019:
- Describe and evaluate the region’s natural and cultural assets.
- Which of these assets would you emphasize and why?
- How, specifically would you advocate for tourism, given the regional and local opposition to tourism. This opposition may be summed up by some of the following quotes:
Mayor Raffaello De Ruggieri:
“We don’t want tourists.”
“We don’t want to be occupied by tourists,”
“Tourism, will deplete a city of its soul — and this city has a prehistoric soul”
“This city has been alive for 8,000 years,” he told me. “But it has always been poor.”
Mr. Kihlgren, local hospitality manager:
“Tourism screws up the identity of a place. The only way to solve this contradiction is to make sure you are obsessive about the identity of the place.”
Mr. Adduce, President of the Matera Basilicata 2019: