3rd, 4th and 5th October: 3 days of learning, exchange and inspiration.
The Grassroots Eco-Health Tourism partnership has gathered young tourism entrepreneurs, project managers and mentors in Matera for a hackathon, a format borrowed from the IT sector and applied to the tourism sector by keeping the must-have ingredients:
- challenge-based approach
- fast-paced environment
- fair competition
- final rewards
Three speakers led the presentations:
- Vania Cauzillo, an energetic stage director and Jill-of-all-trades who highlighted the possible synergies between tourism and cultural and creative enterprises;
- Elvira De Giacomo, a tourism expert who shared some numbers behind Matera-Basilicata2019 (the foundation for Matera’s year as a Capital of Culture);
- Sara Simeone, a sustainable tourism expert, part of the team at Materahub who curated the whole hackathon.
Following a draft of the Experience Design Guide, available soon on Grassroots’ screens, participants came up with 6 ideas on #ExperienceTourism alternatives to the big flows, and benefitted from some mentoring. The ideas are:
– The Splash of Colours, which aims to bring the true story of the Lövgärdets neighbourhood in Gothenburg, Sweden, under the leadership of Linn from Tikitut Community-based tourism (www.tikitut.se), with the support of Daphnée and Véronica.
– Off the Map, by Margaux, to decentralise mass tourism between Nice and Cannes, France, with support from Melissa, Arci and Clotilde.
– MakeYourTrip, an app that uses open data to suggest tailor-made itineraries in Matera, designed by Alina, with support from Bláithín (Your Wellbeing Warrior), Dona and Valérie.
– Fire souls by Alaa Barbou (with Olywyn, Tala and Adrianna), a new experience for L’Alternative Urbaine, for which he works for.
– Keep it ‘Wheel’, a cycling tourism experience in County Sligo, Ireland, devised by Grace-Marie, Clémence, Emma, Linda.
– Living histories, a model tourist experience in the historic districts of #Matera, devised by Raffaele, with the support of Bérénice, Caitríona and Paula.
In addition, one morning was dedicated to a ‘test’ version of a treasure hunt in the neighbourhood of Matera called Serra Venerdì, gathering feedback to propose it again in the future, in an improved version. For the occasion, 6 Finnish guests from OSAO joined Grassroots on a field visit to Matera.
Not only the local TV (TRM) came to the hackathon (see here from minute 59); there were also networking occasions with locals and with participants to Off-the-Beaten-Track, for women changemakers.
Participants have 6 months to incubate these ideas, getting in touch with valuable stakeholders for the real development of above-mentioned tourism experiences, before taking them to Brussels to accelerate them, and potentially fund them through other funds and projects.
Stay tuned!
