Relaunching tourism in Lombardy:

A proposal for an “Enogastronomic” Product

Club

Authors:Mirko Chianesi, Sarah Chow,

Sara Monfregola*, Martina Placucci, Andrea Scacchioli, Stefania Sossi

*phase 1

Master inTourism Management

VII Edition2010-2011

SUMMARY1) The assigment2) Introduction3) The product club

What is a product club? Why a «Enogastronomic» product

club? The philosophy Advantages Public and Private members Requirements The interorganizational structure Roles and functions

4) The financial structure5) Performance evaluation6) The offering system

THE ASSIGNMENT

Our goals were:

• To build the organizational structure of the product club;• To choose the public and private bodies to involve;• To pinpoint the offering system of the product club;• To structure the proper financial model of the organization.

The idea of the product club that we created has to be seen as a pilot test for a further development of this type of tourism organization. If this pilot test will be successful, the LR could think about implementing other product clubs in the future, focused on other tourism offer (e.g. cultural cities, Alps, etc.).

INTRODUCTION HOWEVER WE THINK

THAT CULTURE IS SOMETHING MORE, ESPECIALLY IN ITALY, WHERE A SIMPLE HABIT (EATING) HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED INTO

…a way of life.

That is why the enogastronomic culture is a good starting point to

relaunch tourism in Lombardy.

Traditional culture:«Culture, … includes knwoledge,

belief, art, law, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of

society» (Tylor, 1871)

THE PRODUCT CLUB

THE PRODUCT CLUB

A tourism product club is a product development partnership established and led by the tourism industry stakeholders including small- and/or medium-sized companies. The group pools its resources to develop new market ready products or to increase the value of existing ones.

What is a product club?

THE ENOGRASTRONOMIC PRODUCT CLUB

NO46%

YES54%

ENOGASTRONOMIC

OFFER

Ancient tradition of enogastronomic culture;

Growth of enogastronomic tourism (+60% in 2010 with 5mln€ of revenues*);

Enogastronomic heritage of undisputed value;

Presence of high quality restaurants and culinary innovation;

It is strictly related with the theme of the 2015 Milan Expo (Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life);

Based on our 182 websites D-WEB analysis of European Regions, the enogastronomic offer is an important part of Tourism also in the other European Countries (see figure).

MISSION The «Enogastronomic» product club of Lombardy region

has to link together the main actors of the enogastronomic

heritage of the region in order to create a set of tourist activities that lead visitors to discover the area through culinary experiences.

The product club will be able to

create a network of industries, public and private actors that will join their efforts and their knowledge to offer an unforgettable experience for tourists interestes in the art of food.

PHILOSPHY AND LOGO

ENOGASTRONOMIC PRODUCT CLUB

The logo represents the Lombardy territory, plunged in the enogastronomic culture, symbolized by the colour of the red wine.

The «Enogastronomic» P.C. of Lombardy region wants to

differentiate itself by offering to its partners quality tourism and marketing services; and to the tourists a range of new experiences. Its aim is to make the tourist discover the terroir of Lombardy through the five senses* while helping to preserve the local enogastronomic traditions.

ADVANTAGES To be present in the map guides, the catalogues and the

webiste that will be created. These will be the main promotion tools used by the Product Club;

The creation of a enogastronomic network that will allow to link more all the production areas;

To get benefits from the market research and studies that will be held by the Product Club;

The integration of the enogastronomic offer with other tourism products;

A core promotion of those rural areas that are not usually included in the main tourism itineraries;

The opportunity to take part to events of a certain importance that will have a great impact on tourism promotion;

To be assisted by tourism professionals in the development of tourism packages and promotion;

THE OFFERING SYSTEM

FOR THE MEMBERS:

Periodic reports: related to the members trend, the evaluation of the satisfaction of each product club components.

General statistics: on a national and regional level.

Marketing&Promotion support

Professional assistance (training programmes & refresher courses)

The Enogastronomic Product Club of Lombardy region offers products and advantages both to its members and

to the tourists (the final clients):

MEMBERS

Lombardy Region Lombardy provinces Chambers of Commerce Tourism Offices like APT, IAT, EPT UNPLI Regional Committe for

Lombardy

Exhibitions and Local Festivals(i.e. Sagre) organizations, Tourism Consortia for Lombardy, Local and Traditional products and wine Producers Consortia, Territorial associations and others tourism promotion

organization of Lombardy, Wines and flavours’ roads Federations of Lombardy Folk, cultural and traditional heritage associations of Lombardy

PUBLIC

PRIVATE

COMPULSORY REQUIREMENTS

To be located in the Lombardy Region Territory; To be able to speak one or more foreign languages; To provide brochures, thematic maps and other

communication facilities; To promote incoming flows of tourists, culture and

traditions. To organize or participate to exhibitions, festivals

and events related to regional enogastronomy.

GENERAL

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

Each dish must be prepared utilizing ingredients and local products with DOC/DOCG/STG/IGT/DOP /IGP labels in a percentage of 75%;

To sell local products with DOC/DOCG/STG/IGT/DOP /IGP labels; To be able to offer menus based on traditional recipes even if

revised in a modern way; To change menus according to the seasonality of local products ; The 75% of the total wine offer must be covered by local wines; To offer alternative products, like vegetarian, biological and gluten-

free food; For accomodation and lodging: to be able to provide also additional

services.

HO.RE.CA.

SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS

To give high visibility of the Product Club Logo (pubblished on the menus, brochures, own website, etc);

To expose in a key point of the structure the whole map of the itineraries and give general information about the P.C.;

To provide brochures and other facilities in order to make visitors able to achieve the Vision and the Mission of the P.C.;

To provide monthly report about their activities to the Analysis Department.

FOR NEW MEMBERS

FOR PRODUCERS To produce one or more traditional products – see Annexes/Table 1; To respect the seasonality of the products; To respect the consistency and the traditional method of

production processes.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

General Manager

President

Assembly Members Operative Functions

Marketing & Communication

Analysis Dep.

Finance & Administration

Public Sector

HO.RE.CA.

Local Producers

Tour Operators &

Travel Agencies

MEMBERSHIP COMPOSITION

22%

22%

19%

37%

Membership Composition*Public Sector

Producers & Consortia

Tour Operator/Travel Agencies/Event Organizers

HO.RE.CA. / Agritourism / Other Lodging Fac.

* This is a membership composed by 63 members considering an average of 1-2 participants per province

THE FINANCIAL STRUCTURE

THE FINANCIAL STRUCTURE

- EXPECTED REVENUES -Annual Fees(in K of €)

%

1. Public members 12,5k 175k 24%

2. Private members (avg fee)*

0,6k 30k 3%

3. Marketing activities contributions** 200k 26%

4. Region funds for annual programmes 350k 47%

TOTAL 755K 100%

Annual Fees(in K of €) %

1. Public members 12,5k 175k 24%

2. Private members (avg fee)* 0,6k 30k 3%

3. Marketing activities contributions** 200k 26%

4. Region funds for annual programmes 350k 47%

TOTAL 755K 100%

* Private members’fee is calculated on their capacity/volumes** From public/private co-participants not involved in the PC membership

THE FINANCIAL STRUCTURE

- PROSPECTED COSTS -Annual Costs(in K of €) %

1. Investment for the annual programme- Enogastronomic&Culture: website,

consultants, etc300k 40%

2. General costs for programme management 50k 7%

3. Marketing&Promotion- brochures, campains, exhibitions, fairs etc 200k 26%

4. Employees payroll (with VAT and taxes)

- President- General Manager- 3 Operative Team- 1 Administrative Responsible

205k25k50k

100k30k

27%

TOTAL 755K 100%Note: This financial model has been inspired by pre-existent Product Club budgets.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

- PRODUCT CLUB -SEMESTRAL ANALYSIS OF STATISTICS The number of “clicks” in the P.C. website (annually) The number of visitors in the P.C. area (quarterly)

SATISFACTION QUESTIONNAIRE An annual evaluation of members’ satisfaction about

the P.C.

MEMBERS’ DYNAMICS New entrance requests and exits

MEDIA COVERAGE Press, TV, Radio, Social Media

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION- MEMBERS -SURVEY FOR TOURISTS’ SATISFACTION

On line questionnaire Customer Satisfaction forms

BLIND AND OFFICIAL INSPECTIONS Product certifications Facilities provided Environmental quality To check if the members keep meeting the requirements

THE OFFERING SYSTEM

THE OFFERING SYSTEMThe Enogastronomic Product Club of Lombardy region offers products and advantages both to its members and to the tourists (the final clients):

FOR THE TOURISTS:

• THE RIGHT PROPOSAL FOR DIFFERENT TARGETS

ENOGASTRONOMIC ITINERARIES

CULINARY WORKSHOPS

SINGLE ATTRACTIONS

THE OFFERING SYSTEMTO ADDRESS THE RIGHT TARGET

THE ENOGASTRONOMIC EXPERIENCE CAN NOT BE THE SAME FOR EVERYONE!

IT’S IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND

THE DIFFERENT TOURISTS NEEDS & TO ATTRACT THE RIGHT TARGET,

TO THE RIGHT OFFERING PROPOSAL.

YOUNG

GREEN TRAVELL

ER

LUXUR

Y LOVER

S

ARTISTIC ESPRIT

ROMANTIC

ESCAPE

SILVER MARKET

WHO WE WANT TO ATTRACT?

FAMILY

LEARNING ITALIAN

LIFE STYLE

IN A HURR

Y

THE OFFER FOR TOURISTS EXAMPLE)

CHEESE & WINE TASTING TOUR IN STELVIO NATIONAL PARK (VALTELLINA)

TARGET: GREEN TRAVELLER

CULINARY WORKSHOP IN FRANCIA CORTA

TARGET: LEARNING ITALIAN LIFE STYLE

A LUXURIOUS ENOGASTRONOMIC EXPERIENCE IN MILAN

TARGET: LUXURY LOVERS

THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!

Mirko Chianesi, Sarah Chow, Sara Monfregola, Martina

Placucci, Andrea Scacchioli, Stefania Sossi