3. Methodology

The survey work involved two distinct methodological phases: a quantitative phase and a subsequent qualitative one.

The quantitative phase was based on Computer Aided Telephone Interview surveys. The questionnaire was prepared for the analysis of tourism policy and strategies for pro-moting an integrated and experiential policy starting from three macro areas of analysis:

 

Opinions and attitudes of the various actors on tourism with a focus on the regional and provincial one;

Opinions and attitudes of the various actors on public policies to support regional tour-ism;

Opinions and attitudes of the various actors on local tourist resources and on the pre-disposition of the tourist offer to integrate experientiality in their performances and proposals.

 

But the covid-19 pandemic has affected the empirical phase from the earliest stages. The complexity caused by the circulation of the virus has affected the ability to par-ticipate and the usability of the scarce information obtained. Therefore, I faced with an unexpected event that required a change in the path of research.

Thus, a cycle of webinars was organized with the aim of reflecting and confronting the growing affirmation of experience as a tourist product in such a way as to:

 

Promote co-planning,

Stimulate the dissemination of skills,

Create network and organizational relationships

 

in the Calabrian territory.

Webinars have become a very useful investigative tool in the covid-19 pandemic. Their ability to break down physical barriers and connect participants in a simple and immediate way has made them an effective essential communication tool.

The various meetings made it possible to probe, with more opportunities for in-depth analysis, topics included in the Computer Aided Telephone Interview questionnaire.

The cycle of webinars organized as a narrative has allowed the narration of the ter-ritory, best practices and governance processes to emerge. Webinars have taken on the role of a valid tool in guiding the offer:

 

In the search for the experience, starting from territorial identities, which best responds to the needs and requirements of new tourists;

In soliciting and tickling the tourist’s decision to choose that particular destination over another,

In memory of the emotion to be left to the tourist.

 

The webinar cycle was characterized by 5 weekly meetings and they addressed differ-ent aspects of the phenomenon.

Three macro-areas have animated discussions and reflections:

 

The tourist legislation, in this meeting the strengths and weaknesses of the national and regional regulatory instruments were discussed;

Regional tourist districts and other forms of regional and territorial organisations, the focus was on Calabrian experiences,those ones mature and in the process of being established. The focus has fallen on legislative processes and forms of bot-tom-up socio-economic responses.

The best practices of experiential tourism in Calabria, with analysis of known practices and of those ones which, although not part of organized forms of tourism, are excellent examples to be valorised.

 

A final and summary Conference entitled Experiential tourism in Calabria. A pos-sible system? has closed the first empirical phase.

The Conference was characterized by the organization of 3 Sessions:

 

I Session—Experiential tourism: prospects for a territorial-environmental govern-ance

II Session—Experiential tourism: new tourist spaces and integrated programming

III Session—Experiential tourism: a possible system?

 

and a Round Table that allowed for a broader debate and confrontation with social actors.

After this phase it has started an in-depth interviews phase that it allowed to deepen phenomena, concepts, tourist practices and policies.

In both events (webinars and Conference) the narration was adopted for two orders of reasons:

 

For a methodological issue, because experiential tourism can be read through the storytelling approach,

For a conceptual and communicative issue, because narratives allow experiences to be communicated, to involve the community through a story that is told. A story steeped in identity, traditions, territories, practices. The essence of storytelling is that when you tell stories you operate and the intent of this work is to operate.

 

The twofold result of this research project was:

 

Re-designing the Calabrian tourist offer starting from a planning centered on an idea of territorial governance,

Encourage the formation of eco-experiential paths capable of enhancing some natural areas located outside the tourist circuits, but also of promoting and marketing sustain-able forms of use.

 

The identification of privileged witnesses and stakeholders, who in fact constituted the working group, took place thanks to an initial recognition of the documents, on the one hand, and on the territory, on the other, using the snowball method first, and a stakeholder mapping,then.

The tourism operators who enlivened the research activities confronted each other through a storytelling approach and formed a collaborative group.