Cycling Tourism and Revitalization in the Sicilian Hinterland: A Case Study in the Taormina–Etna District

Gianni Petino,Donatella Privitera,Giuseppe Reina

doi:10.3390/su131810022

Abstract

This study aims to present a strategy for the revitalization of the Sicilian “internal areas”, recognizing a directional tool, together with the integration of self-centered actions of slow tourism. The design was specifically located in the Taormina–Etna tourist district (an area of north-eastern Sicily that includes 60 municipalities) which, in rethinking the post-pandemic restart, aims at the development of a mobile system of cycling tourism able to interconnect cultural peculiarities, environmental characteristics, and landscape values. This paper also examines key features and interpretations, and develops a strategy based on a slow travel framework as an alternative means of achieving success in the Sicilian hinterland. Starting from the current financial and environmental crisis, therefore, the paper finds explanations and solutions, in which we try to conceive of the economy and ecology as systems that not only open to one another, but mutually determine one another in defining new, self-sustaining local development processes. In order to build a competitive alternative to help less favorable regions, it is necessary to move within the scope of investments by a public system capable of planning resilient strategies based on sustainable principles.

Highlights

The significant reduction in the demand of world tourism following the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing towards a deep economic crisis for local communities and for all of the operators involved in the tourism sector, including the states and their reception policies
The main objective remains to ensure that the territories and, the human communities are perfectly integrated into the ecosystems that surround them, in an effort to minimize their ecological footprint in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
The project to mend the territory begins at the coast, and heads towards the mountainous areas of the Nebrodi, where one can perceive a central axis consisting of a narrow valley groove created by the erosion of the rocks from the Alcantara River, involving the perimeter of the homonymous Fluvial Park (~11,000 hectares between the Mojo Alcantara valley and the mouth of the river near Giardini), characterized by numerous geomorphological, vegetation, rural, and historical–artistic elements that have conditioned its socioeconomic evolution [48]

Summary

Introduction

The significant reduction in the demand of world tourism following the COVID-19 pandemic is pushing towards a deep economic crisis for local communities and for all of the operators involved in the tourism sector, including the states and their reception policies. Starting from the current financial and ecological crisis, this paper aims to find reasons and solutions for a new geography, wherein to conceive the economy and ecology as systems that open to one another, but mutually determine one another in the implementation of territorial cohesion strategies. The starting point for building a competitive alternative is to move within a public system capable of planning sustainable strategies with local stakeholders by seeking new paradigms of self-development that can help to overcome the current crisis in more marginalized areas. This study aims to represent a strategy for the revitalization of

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion