State Parliament discusses: Tourism as a key to knowledge transfer!

State Parliament discusses: Tourism as a key to knowledge transfer!

The South Tyrolean state parliament will meet again on Tuesday after a six-week summer break. Numerous resolution proposals are up for discussion, including a proposal from SVP parliamentary group leader Harald Stauder and state parliament vice president Angelo Gennaccaro entitled “Tourism as a potential for knowledge transfer”. The aim of the application is to provide tourists with more information about the country's history, autonomy and social peculiarities. This project could significantly change the tourist experience in South Tyrol and turn guests into multipliers of knowledge.

Harald Stauder describes tourism as an issue for society as a whole and sees the state parliament as a suitable place for new approaches to imparting knowledge. Around 8.7 million guests visit South Tyrol every year, which represents an enormous opportunity to disseminate information about the diversity of language groups, their history and way of life. Informed guests could convey a more differentiated image of South Tyrol in political debates about autonomy or minority rights, which would benefit the region.

Approach to education through information

The information should be provided in a compact form, both in print and digitally. The proposal aims to make basic facts easily accessible so that not all visitors have to be guided to existing exhibitions. Stauder emphasizes that the costs of providing information are low, while the potential benefits are large. This would enable visitors to gain a basic understanding that goes beyond simply enjoying the landscape and culture.

The impetus for this application comes at a time in which South Tyrol is intensively dealing with its tourism development. A current research project by the Trauttmansdorff illuminates the metamorphosis of economic and cultural life in South Tyrol. Between 1961 and 1983 the region experienced a social awakening, which was promoted by the development of the South Tyrol Package and the Second Statute of Autonomy of 1972. These developments led to tourism becoming a pacesetter industry.

Historical developments and their effects

In the 1960s and 1970s, the number of overnight stays in South Tyrol rose from 3.7 million in 1960 to 17 million in 1980. The Touriseum research project examines the interactions between the German-Austrian economic miracle and Italy's “miracolo economico”. Questions about looking back at the origins of tourism and its influence on the acceptance of tourism and the training of tourism employees are addressed.

Another exciting aspect of the project is the analysis of the influence of tourism on the lifestyles and cultural codes of South Tyroleans. It is also examined whether mass tourism contributed to the invention of traditions such as the Törggele culture. The project also addresses the question of whether tourism after 1961 saved or destroyed mining culture.

The project work started in August 2023 and is financed by the state museums research fund. By using archival and bibliographic sources, photo albums, film recordings and diaries, as well as including the voices of older contemporary witnesses, the complex relationships between social development and tourism in South Tyrol are to be critically examined.