EcoTips

A few weeks ago, the Ecotips creators, who participated in Pilot 6, met live on Apical's FB community to compare and talk about their project, touching on some very important topics such as the challenges they are facing during the growth path.

Today we introduce you to Diletta, Giorgia and Maurizio, creators of EcoTips Travel Lab, a tour operator in the beginning stages, and they are involved in outgoing to various destinations around the world and incoming as far as, at the moment, eastern Sicily is concerned, while they are slowly expanding to the rest of Sicily and the smaller islands, on which they already have several projects.

Their vision:

Creators as they tell of their experience speak of a very common view these days. In fact, it is extremely easy for them to find mainstream trips with standard, uninvolving experiences.

Sometimes it may seem comfortable to stand firm on the classic experience, able perhaps to excite the traveler and leave him or her satisfied with the destination. At the same time, however, these scenarios lack that extra something. Given by authentic and engaging experiences that connect the traveler with the local community, which carries on ancient traditions and can showcase and bring to life more of the identity of the area rather than simply hosting the visit.

The creators of EcoTips Travel Lab go in search of small details for experiences that are not mainstream and argue that one should go for truly authentic activities that can differentiate the product from outdated, mass tourism offerings. For example, the presence of a local community that offers experiences and opportunities to tourists can make a stay truly special.

What superpowers do you need to have to find those small realities in your local area that make for an authentic and sustainable experience?

It is not easy, we started from our area, the Ionian-Etnean area, a strategic area where there is so much to do and see. A tourist tends to spend only two days in this area, but there is so much more.

The most important thing is to have a network, to know people who have the same vision. For example, attending trade shows is a great way to meet people and, for his team, many insights have come simply by talking about the project to people who may not even be in the industry like artisans, farmers, etc.

In some cases this has been a cue to start collaborations through which to offer experiences that do not necessarily arise from the tourism industry.

Why is it sometimes difficult to form partnerships?

Sometimes people get stuck on an idea because it has worked in all the previous years, and rather than risk a little, change and rely on someone's advice, they prefer to continue down that path.

On some occasions, a partnership has not begun because small businesses do not trust entering into partnerships: in some cases they know how a certain activity works and would like to develop it in a certain way to make it as authentic and unique as possible, but often there are brakes on the other side.

In addition, many agencies stay on the mainstream because they are afraid that small entities do not have the skills, the quality to deal with hosting or because they struggle to have enough local knowledge to really trust the entities. This is a challenge shared by all those smaller and/or nascent projects. In conclusion, the solution would be to start from small realities slowly, trying to get to know and trust each other: the strength lies in moving forward slowly but well.

What is one of the key elements for the growth of travel projects?

As we could also see during the Pilot, the transformation continues indefinitely. Transformation is indeed a key element for the growth of a project but also, for example, for laying the groundwork and questioning oneself and the initial idea. Sometimes this is lacking in potential partners but, fortunately, at the same time there are a lot of people who are open to change and to the sustainable footprint one wants to give to products and experiences.

I conclude, also laying the groundwork for another topic, with a rhetorical question (but not too much either!): What can make a tour and stay sustainable? First, the choice of stay and the choice of experiences.

Sustainability of Experiences and Repeaters

I thus come to a closely related topic. Example: repeaters, i.e., those visitors to a destination who choose to return after a period of time, may find completely different opportunities than the first time they visited the place. We must, therefore, dispel the myth of repeaters tourism by reevaluating the idea of returning to places where one has been. The traveler who returns to where he has already been and perhaps made a classic visit, all the more reason he needs to go and find that special thing for which a place is worth visiting again .

In our opinion, the interview was very interesting and offers excellent food for thought.