Hi Roberta, we last saw each other in February 2020. Then we experienced several months that were, to say the least, complex, full of uncertainties, changes, digital acceleration and now a period of great hopes. How can we describe the scenario we are facing today?
We are emerging from an epochal crisis, a crisis that affected at the same time both supply and demand. Nothing comparable to any previous event. Digital has been the undisputed protagonist of this period, the only way to communicate, inform, keep in touch and have a relationship, train and, where possible, sell. With no tourists, empty hotels and closed restaurants, by “selling” I mean that part of the business – residual – that has been achieved online. I am referring, for example, to online wine and cheese tastings and food delivery which also involved haute cuisine. Then there are the big players who have digitized the “experiences” such as Airbnb which quickly converted its offer to the digital (Online Experience, April 2020) and Amazon, which launched a new product of only virtual travel experiences, (“Amazon Explore”). In both cases the food sector occupied a large space. A digital acceleration that equals 7 years, according to McKinsey.
Today we are definitely on the comeback, domestic tourism has responded well, but there is a lack of foreigners in food and wine tourism, especially the long-term ones: it is they who bring the greatest economic repercussions to the areas with a food and wine vocation. According to UNWTO data in Europe, during the period January-July, we were at -77% of international arrivals and it is estimated that to return to pre-pandemic turnover levels, we have to wait until 2024. Whether you like it or not, in tourism “one is not worth one”. The operators are asking themselves so many questions, one of which is whether to adapt the product (eg: menus and restaurant prices) to a different kind of demand or hold on to positioning until the crisis is over?
In your working group, what are you dealing with specifically? What are the main themes and objectives of the “Food & Wine” topic?
The demand for food and wine tourism is growing all over the world and it may be a very important resource for the recovery of the sector: the presence of experiences related to food and wine is important for 71% of the people when they are trying to choose their travel destination (in 2019 that percentage was 59% – Report on Italian food and wine tourism 2021 by Roberta Garibaldi). However, we are starting from a situation of backwardness and we need to be aware of that: in 2019, for example, the average daily repercussion of wine tourism with overnight stay was 150 euros in Italy while in Napa Valley it was already 446 dollars.
In perfect BTO style, we therefore started out with some concrete input: how to intercept the new trends, the changes taking place, how to answer the questions that operators are asking themselves during this period. I’d like to thank the Advisory Board group that is dealing with this topic for the great work they’re doing, a group that was recently expanded with the addition of people very close to the world of catering. In the meantime, we will have a lot of research and data (traditional and Big Data) that will help us understand the context in which food and wine tourism moves: from Ipsos to The Data Appeal Company, just to name a few; among the themes, some will be more general and widespread: the lack of staff in hotels and restaurants, the implementation of sustainability in food and wine tourism, Instagram and creativity in talking about food, winetourism, wine e-commerce and developmental policies in different countries, the brand identity of restaurants, including those inside the hotels, the great catering events and effects on tourism. Other themes will be more vertical: technology at the service of product traceability (a very important issue for countering the Italian-sounding), Pizza seen as a destination, the evolution of experiences thanks to the digital, the evolution of social and digital promotion in new formats and on new platforms, and much more. Naturally all the themes are dealt with “onlife”, in the continuous reference to the material and the immaterial world.
Can you give us any advance information or tell us any bits of news? What has changed, if it has changed, in preparing a scientific program within this scenario?
I cannot give you any names, but from what has already been said above you can make a few guesses. However, I can anticipate one thing: in this very rich, innovative and technological program, we will stop and think via a few talks. We will be putting in some “slow” moments of vision, philosophy will also support us. Yes, we are in the engulfing era of performance and we risk, as individuals, being overwhelmed by it. Never more than right now do we need infections, interpretations. Philosophy as a tool for teaching us the new value of food, the relationship with speed and how to interpret changes. Ultimately, in order to maintain our centrality both as operators and as people in a moment of disorientation, we have to learn to ask ourselves the right questions before frantically searching for answers.
How will the “Frictionless” theme fit into the Food & Wine Topic devoted to food and wine tourism?
A frictionless experience. Friction, by definition, is a force that opposes movement. We will address various aspects of the issue.
The technological aspect, speaking of user experience, tourist expectations and business solutions; the Design aspect, in the broadest sense of the term because the challenge today is much greater, it is necessary to redesign the offer, the paths, the physical and digital interaction all the way up to the organizational models (think of the restaurants or the visits to the cellar); Psychological, trying to reduce the natural resistance to such a rapid change in technology but also in behavior and values.
The demand for food and wine tourism is growing all over the world and it could be a very important resource for the recovery of the sector. But only on condition that it knows how to intercept, without friction, an increasingly digital tourist, increasingly sustainable and demanding.
Why will it be important to attend BTO this year and, in particular, the “Food & Wine” day on November 29th? What will the public get out of it to take back home?
In the last edition, just before the lockdown, we anticipated some issues that were to become very topical just a few days later. I am thinking of food delivery (the global market is now worth over 150 billion dollars, doubled in the USA during the pandemic), contactless technology (the volumes of transactions with contactless mobile payments will increase by 92% globally by 2023), biometric recognition, podcasts, digital menus. Many thanked us during the first months of the pandemic, even looking at the videos a few weeks later. Here, BTO is the place to understand the future, even when the future is unpredictable. We will give restaurateurs, destinations and all the operators who will be attending, a key to understanding the change and tools to be protagonists of that change.
We look forward to seeing you on November 29th!
