Sustainable Tourism Observatory of South Tyrol (STOST)

The Sustainable Tourism Observatory of South Tyrol (STOST) is the first observatory in Italy that will monitor and evaluate tourism development in the province of Bolzano-Bozen (South Tyrol) in northern Italy. It is based on a partnership of the province, the tourism research and planning centre Eurac Research and Innovation Development Marketing, South Tyrol’s regional development agency and destination management organization.

MISSION

The Observatory is aiming at continuously monitoring, evaluating and communicating on South Tyrol’s (i.e. the Autonomous Province of Bolzano/Bozen) tourism developments and the impacts they have. With the generated data in areas such as mobility, climate change, regional products and quality control, employment and many other topics, the Observatory will support awareness-raising activities and decision-making processes of different stakeholders groups, serving the local community as think-tank that fosters communication, collaboration,and evidence-based destination management.

Contextual Background

Tourism represents a very strong pillar of South Tyrol’s overall economy. In early 2017, South Tyrol issues a new tourism strategy for 2030 that contains a number of trends and measures relevant for sustainable tourism development. While launching the strategy, it became obvious that the establishment of a monitoring system for sustainable tourism in South Tyrol would help to foster the implementation of the strategy while motivating the destination’s stakeholders to proceed on the ongoing path towards improved sustainability in tourism. In addition, the Italian Strategic Plan for Tourism (PST) and the activities of the Working Group on Sustainable Tourism of the Alpine Convention were other strategical frameworks that were drivers to establish the Observatory.

KEY MONITORING AREAS

INSTO Key Issue Areas, plus
Innovation
Sustainable Consumption and Production
Ski Tourism and other Nature Sports
Biodiversity and Nature Protection
Cultural Heritage and Traditions
Mobility
Land Use and Spatial Planning
Visitor Management and Satisfaction
Adaptation to Climate Change

DID YOU KNOW…

Following INSTO’s core values of inclusiveness and participation, Eurac Research and IDM implemented in total 26 qualitative stakeholder interviews with local and external experts, residents and tourists and organized a local stakeholder information exchange in summer 2018 in order to gather an overview of the needs, desires and priorities of local stakeholders that served as basis for developing the strategic direction, including key monitoring issue areas and objectives) for the Observatory. By combining secondary and primary data and processing it with specific tools of analysis, a total of 14 groups of keywords could be identified, indicating locally desired areas for investigation. Out of this exercise and the review of different existing indicator systems, a total of 19 issue areas were identified as priority monitoring areas for South Tyrol, with a list of related indicators for each area which will be discussed, selected and prioritized with stakeholders in the destination.

RESOURCES

CONTACT