Ninth International Conference on Tourism & Leisure Studies

Abstract

Dubrovnik and Venice are probably the most touristically overloaded cities in Europe: their rate of tourists per inhabitant, according to an analysis carried out by Holidu, makes them the most afflicted towns by overtourism. This awareness should lead us to rethink the tourism industry in Adriatic, to decompress overbooked places, and to promote social and economic growth in (still) undeveloped tourist destinations. Wine is one of the motivations that lead tourists to choose a destination over others, both because wine regions are usually pleasant places and because food and wine tourism can connect visitors with local producers, thus local population, culture, and identity. This kind of experience can push towards new routes of cultural tourism able to bring visitors to minor destinations to discover unknown but attractive territories and their culture. Building on the legacy built by Interreg Adrion projects such as Approdi and Approdi Plus, we have focused on the Adriatic Region as a maritime and cultural region, a liquid territory, and an individual entity of the Mediterranean Sea and Europe. Investigating two archive collections, i.e. the Provveditori Generali in Dalmazia e Albania from the State Archives in Zadar and the Cinque Savi alla Mercanzia in Venice, we are tracing wine trades between the two sides of the Adriatic in the centuries XVII and XVIII. Combined with a critical analysis of previous attempts to promote the cultural heritage of the Adriatic space, the ultimate goal is to draw up an analytical proposal for new cultural tourism itineraries focused on wine.