Be Travel Onlife: the future of digital tourism

Formerly Buy Tourism Online, Be Travel Onlife is the reference point in Italy for digital tourism, with the event guaranteeing high-level speakers and an environment where ideas, collaborations and projects are born. Focusing on hospitality, destination, food and wine, and digital strategy and innovation, the international event takes place from November 29-30 at Stazione Leopolda in Florence. Here, we speak to Francesco Tapinassi, the scientific director of BTO and the director of Toscana Promozione Turistica, about what participants can expect.

This year’s theme is metatourism. How much do we really know and how much will the metaverse affect the tourism sector?
The metaverse is currently a topic of the moment. Even at last year’s hybrid edition we held remote speeches using holograms and we talked about NFT in catering and in the world of wine. BTO is the place to discover the future of tourism. One year later, and this change is becoming even clearer. The metaverses (it’s more accurate to refer to them in the plural) constitute a revolution that could change our lives and reference models with reality. As a result, payment methods, the search for information, the relationship with places, and the very concept of hospitality could be changed. Each tour operator is asking themselves to imagine, predict, and understand if and how to act in advance. Therefore, if on the one hand there’s a lot of attention being paid and knowledge is still scarce, on the other hand we can’t afford to trivialize the matter. At BTO2022, we want to create a real debate, hosting differing positions, in order to investigate the deeper meaning of change, the future in general, and the implications we can foresee for our sector.

How do you see the future of tourism in Florence and Tuscany from this point of view?
Our region and its main destinations have always been attentive to the development of new technologies. The very choice of hosting BTO in Florence, organized by the Tuscany Region and the Chamber of Commerce, demonstrates how important it is to bring the best knowledge of digital tools and tourism-related technologies to the entire territory. There has always been awareness that the public and private sectors should work together, taking advantage of every opportunity that the digital revolution can offer. Success in facing this challenge is also relying on the skills of the entire supply chain.

Are we ready to face the challenges and seize the opportunities that technology presents?
I’m certain that Tuscany and Florence, together, have all the potential to ad- dress innovation and international tourism competitiveness. The enforced hiatus imposed by the pandemic has also increased the demand for digital. This has brought online tools closer and has allowed operators to spend a lot of time changing their organizational models thanks to new technologies. Great destinations like ours cannot fail to seize the extraordinary opportunities of innovation, making the tourist experience ever more seamless for our visitors.

What is the key to BTO’s success?
The first key to its success is its vision, the desire to understand and predict the future before it arrives. Every trader knows how important knowledge is to stay competitive in a world that changes so quickly. To translate this vision into an event, we worked on two parallel fronts: training and digital innovation. The recipe is as simple as it is courageous: 1) always choosing stimulating new content; 2) the selection of high-level national and international speakers; 3) an exciting and inspiring atmosphere. At BTO, the informality and palpable enthusiasm have become an integral part of the event. Human relations are always at the centre, even when talking about digital tourism, and this greatly favours networking between operators and companies.

What is your opinion of the summer season that has just ended in Florence and Tuscany, and how can we prepare for the future?
It was a brilliant summer, with really significant numbers and performances in some cases that were higher than in 2019. As the data we are collecting in our digital observatory testifies, the most interesting elements are the great return of international visitors and the flows in the cities of art, in addition to the consolidation of the Italian demand for the coast and countryside. This is a first evaluation that’s not yet definitive, but we can confirm the success of Tuscany as a whole. It’s difficult to predict what will happen in the coming months. The main unknowns are the regional offering which is forced to face an energy crisis and completely unexpected management costs, and we will then have to evaluate how the higher cost of living and transport will affect future demand.