In Varese, tourism is young

“May I help you?”, everyone in white t-shirts as a reference point for tourism in Lombardy and in the province of Varese. #doyoulake becomes something more than a slogan and a reference point for social networks.

The Campiotti Room was filled with secondary school students together with Giuseppe Albertini, Roberto Maroni, Mauro Parolini and Maurizio Francesco Tallone. Greetings from the Mayor of Varese Davide Galimberti followed by talks of the other protagonists of the project.

THE PROJECT
Going into the details of the initiative, from 1st April to 1st October students will join the operators of the territorial network of information points, carrying out different activities: the reconnaissance of cultural and sports events, support for major initiatives, information, address and assistance to tourists, the development of content on social channels and accompaniment during visits and outdoor activities alongside the guides.

SCHOOLS INVOLVED
In particular, in the Info Point of Varese there will be students from the local secondary school Liceo Manzoni while at the Sacred Mountain the students of Isis Daverio-Casula but also the Marie Curie of Tradate; in Laveno Mombello, in the municipal information centre run by the Strada dei Sapori delle Valli Varesine, there will be students of the Istituto Stein of Gavirate and Liceo Sereni of Luino.

Returning to Luino, students of the Isis Volonte will be present both at the Municipal Info Point and the external ones where the collaboration with the Canottieri Luino rowing club is active. In Sesto Calende instead there will be students of the Institute Gadda-Rosselli of Gallarate and of the Della Chiesa from Sesto Calende. In Porto Ceresio some students of the Isis Valceresio of Bisuschio will take part, with others collaborating in the Info Point of Lavena Ponte Tresa.

For the southern parts of Varese province, as well, the project involves Volandia, where information will be provided by the students of the Istituto Tosi in Busto Arsizio and Gadda-Rosselli of Gallarate.

TRAINING
Before entering into action in April, the Tourist Angels – with their t-shirts and their hats branded #DoYouLake? and InLombardia – will receive training focused on two themes: territorial tourist classification, with signs in English provided by local guides, and the development and management of multiple channels on social networks, with the involvement of Explora, the Destination Management Organization of the Lombardy Region.

INTERVENTIONS
GIUSEPPE ALBERTINI – Chamber of Commerce
“We are particularly pleased with this project because of its double meaning,” underlines the President of the Chamber of Commerce, Giuseppe Albertini. “In the first place, it allows us to provide new services to tourists that, as shown by the latest data, are appreciating more and more the quality that guarantees their Varese, with its lakes and the environmental and architectural beauty of a land rich in four UNESCO world heritage sites. In addition, we offer the opportunity to the students of our schools to undertake a profitable period of field training. They will be able to hone their skills, improve their language skills and perhaps consider whether to move towards a business in the tourism and hospitality field.”

ROBERTO MARONI
“We are proud that it is Varese, with its four UNESCO sites, that is taking the lead in innovative projects that support tourism in Lombardy,” declares the President of the  Lombardy Region, Roberto Maroni. “Lombardy is not just industry and manufacturing, for which it is known all over the world and, with 800,000 companies, making it one of the four engines of Europe, but also art and nature, and therefore deserves to be known for its extraordinary cultural and natural beauty. There are numerous activities that we have already started, the largest of which is the Year of Tourism in Lombardy, which closes at the end of May. I hope the Tourist Angels can be a model of support for tourism promotion all across our territory, because we have the ambition to become an international player of the highest level also in tourism.”

MAURO PAROLINI
“Lombardy region,” declares the Regional Councillor for Economic Development, Mauro Parolini, “has co-financed this project, because it fits in line not only in the activities provided by #DoYouLake?, for which we have allocated 300 thousand euros, but also in the overall revitalisation of the promotion, acceptance and organization of the Lombard tourism that we are undertaking. To complete the jump in quality that Lombardy is making it is also necessary to invest in qualified hospitality and regain awareness of our great potential. These “angels” will play a key role, because tourism is above all relating and meeting with people and places. And in this context, the human factor plays an important role, because it is the element that can make a trip an unforgettable experience.”

CLAUDIO MERLETTI
The Regional Education Office director – Varese Territory, Claudio Merletti, is particularly pleased to start this collaboration that opens interesting perspectives for the future: “Two hundred students. An anchor, in the boundlessness of need and provincial chances of school-work (with 21,000 students / year of the triennium final of all secondary schools), but, thanks to the Chamber of Commerce and the Region, in one of the centres of gravity of the developmental tradition of our province. The two hundred will be trained in and on the territorial tourism context, also in English, from tour guides and with the development and management of multi-channel social networking. The signing of the protocol is an investment for the future, a strategic example of how the direct assumption by the highest institutions of the educational dimension of alternation between school and work can generate new forms of growth, training and development rooted territorially, and open for our girls and for our boys.”