La valorizzazione turistica del Parco del Ticino come strategia di sviluppo locale : attori e prospettive

This paper analyses the tourism promotion potentialities of the territory of the Parco Lombardo della Valle del Ticino, standing on the promotion of natural and cultural assets of the protected areas and on the impact of tourism on local development. Main objective is pointing out how tourism could foster the territorial development, enriching the local economic system with agricultural activities in particular. This can be considered a mean for supporting a coherent imagine and a defined identity to the territory, which might be shared both by local population and by those living outside the boundaries of the Park. In a first step, the potential gravitation areas for tourists and visitors are analyzed, according to various geographical scales (local, metropolitan, regional, national, international). Then the contemporary means of tourism-oriented exploitation of the Ticino territory are surveyed, underlying strengths and weaknesses. Finally, implementing a proposal of taxonomy, the main typologies of assets and amenities of the territory are studied. The central element in a tourism-oriented local development should be a systemic approach, with an successful exploitation of the heterogeneous positive assets diffused in the territory of the park.