The Albergo Diffuso Model: Community-based hospitality for a sustained competitive advantage 9783110643763, 9783110639735

Table of contents :
Acknowledgements
Contents
1. Introduction
2. The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality
3. Rural hamlets: Basic requirements for setting up the hospitality model
4. Analyzing resources for sustained competitive advantage: A resource-based theory approach
5. The AD as a business model
6. Conclusions
References
List of figures
List of tables
About the author

Citation preview

Maurizio Droli The Albergo Diffuso Model

De Gruyter Studies in Tourism

Series editor Jillian M. Rickly

Volume 2

Maurizio Droli

The Albergo Diffuso Model Community-based hospitality for a sustained competitive advantage

ISBN 978-3-11-063973-5 E-ISBN (PDF) 978-3-11-064376-3 E-ISBN (EPUB) 978-3-11-063991-9 ISSN 2570-1657 Library of Congress Control Number: 2019952695 Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. © 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston Typesetting: Integra Software Services Pvt. Ltd. Printing and Bindung: CPI books GmbH, Leck www.degruyter.com

To Stefania

Acknowledgements Dealing with the way in which an innovation, such as the Albergo Diffuso (AD), satisfies emerging tourism markets is no easy task. Firstly, I wish to thank Mr. Giancarlo Dall’Ara for his valuable help in revising an early draft of Chapter 2 that focuses on the AD hospitality model he himself engineered, and for encouraging me in studying further innovations embedded in the model. I fervently hope that the description I have provided of this model of hospitality is concise, exhaustive, and innovative enough to satisfy his prescriptions. I want to thank all of the managers and staff of Alberghi Diffusi, the mayors of municipalities which host an AD, the investors, consultants, and others, who I omit to name simply for reasons of brevity, for affording me the great privilege of assisting them in the setting up of a sustainable tourism development process through the establishment of an AD, over the last two decades. I would also like to thank Professor Luca Iseppi at the University of Udine in Italy, Professor Esther Munyri and the research staff at the Kenyatta University in Kenya, Professor Giovanna Bertella at the Arctic University of Tromsø in Norway, Professor Kazem Vafadari at the Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan, Professor Rigoberto Lopez at the University of Connecticut in the United States, and, finally, all of the anonymous reviewers at De Gruyter for their enthusiasm in supporting the preliminary studies, for suggesting research boundaries, for assisting me to improve the book contents, and for highlighting additional directions for the research. Last but not least, I want to thank any readers of this book in advance who wish to share their opinions regarding the issues discussed, give their feedback on its contents, or feel motivated to partner strategically in order to address any of the scenarios even more productively. I invite you to send an e-mail to: [email protected]. As usual, any residual errors of this book must be attributed to the author alone.

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110643763-202

Contents Acknowledgements

VII

1

Introduction

1

2 2.1 2.1.1 2.1.2 2.1.3 2.2

The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality Similarities between the AD and the earliest hospitality models The horizontal distribution of hospitality rooms 8 The strategic role played by the hosting community 10 The gift-oriented culture 11 The AD within the general debate on alternative development models 11 The AD versus other vertical hospitality models 12 The AD versus other horizontal hospitality models 14 The AD within the academic debate 17 The birth of the name “Albergo Diffuso” 25 From the brand name to the hospitality model 28 Key numbers and laws 31 The services offered 34 Thematic specializations 36 Purposes 37 Promotion and sales 38 Conventional analysis of the hospitality model 39 Strengths 39 Weaknesses 43 Opportunities 44 Threats 47 Potential impact 48 The general-holistic approach 49 The atomistic approach 50 The dynamic-relational approach 51 Case studies 54 The case of Corte Fiorita AD Bosa, Sardinia, Italy 54 The case of Yakageya Inn and Suites AD, Okayama Prefecture, Japan 57

2.2.1 2.2.2 2.2.3 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 2.10.1 2.10.2 2.10.3 2.10.4 2.11 2.11.1 2.11.2 2.11.3 2.12 2.12.1 2.12.2

3 3.1 3.2

Rural hamlets: Basic requirements for setting up the hospitality model 60 The AD model as a resource-based hospitality model 60 Exploring urban–rural interactions for sustainable tourism development purposes 61

7 7

X

3.2.1 3.2.2 3.2.3 3.2.4 3.2.5 3.2.6 3.2.7 3.3 3.3.1 3.3.2 3.3.3 3.3.4 3.3.5 3.3.6 3.3.7 3.4 3.5 3.5.1 3.5.2 4 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.8.1 4.8.2 4.8.3 4.8.4 4.8.5 4.9 4.9.1 4.9.2 4.9.3

Contents

Fear of street crime 62 Loneliness 65 Poor work-life balance 67 Light at night (LAN) pollution 69 Environmental noise pollution (ENP) 71 Relatively low availability of green spaces 74 Air pollution (AP) 76 The countryside as a possible resource for human health and well-being 77 Sense of security 79 Conviviality 80 Lack of stress factors 81 Darkness at night (DAN) 81 Silence at night (SAN) 82 Accessibility of available green spaces in the countryside 83 Clean air to breathe 84 The research for a hospitality model promoting longevity 85 Case studies 89 The case of Sauris-Zahre AD, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy 89 The case of Slow Valley AD, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy 92 Analyzing resources for sustained competitive advantage: A resource-based theory approach 96 Historical premises of resource-based theory 96 Edith Penrose’s seminal contribution 97 Synergies existing between a traditional management approach and RBT 99 The concept of the productive resource 100 Resource and organizational heterogeneity 102 Main organization’s resources 103 The RBT kernel: “competitive surviving” and “sustained” competitive advantage 104 Resources’ analysis model: the VRIN-O model 105 Resources’ valuability and competitive parity 106 Resources’ rarity and temporary competitive advantage 108 Resources’ inimitability 108 Resources’ non-substitutability 109 Resources’ organization process 110 Applying the VRIN-O model: key benefits 111 First-mover advantage 111 Entry barriers 112 Mobility barriers 112

Contents

4.9.4 4.9.5 4.9.6 4.9.7 4.9.8 4.9.9 4.10 4.11 4.11.1 4.11.2

Following mainstreams 113 Firms’ resource acquisition 114 Resource development 115 Resource extra value and profit appropriation 116 Knowledge-based view 118 The natural-resource-based view 120 Assessing the main RBT critiques 122 Case studies 125 The case of Locanda degli Elfi AD, Preit, Piedimont, Italy The case of Porrentruy AD, Jura, Switzerland 128

5 5.1 5.2 5.2.1 5.2.2 5.2.3 5.2.4 5.2.5 5.2.6 5.2.7 5.2.8 5.2.9 5.3 5.3.1 5.3.2

The AD as a business model 131 The business model concept and its key elements 131 The AD’s business model 135 Key resources 135 Key segments 140 Value propositions 144 Distribution channels 147 Relationships 151 Activities 157 Key partners 170 Cost centers 176 Revenue streams 180 Case studies 188 The case of Scicli AD, Sicily, Italy 188 Evaluating the economic feasibility of an Albergo Diffuso: the case of ”X“ municipalities 190

6

Conclusions

Reference

193

197

List of figures List of tables About the author

233 234 235

125

XI

1 Introduction An innovation, in business terms, may be assessed by considering the following key elements, according to Schumpeter (1934) and Hjalager (2010): – A1. development of new sales markets – A2. generation of new or improved products – A3. introduction of new production processes – A4. development of new supply markets – A5. reorganization and/or restructuring of the company or tourism destination Different studies, including those of Hjalager, Kwiatkowski, and Larsen (2017, 1), have shown “the increasing interest in higher quality of rural tourism products, and the innovation gaps occurring in the rural tourism industry.” This book represents the first attempt to describe a hotel hospitality model that was developed in Italy and called the “Albergo Diffuso” (AD) – literally, “scattered hotel” – by answering the corresponding questions:

Q1. How are ADs developing new sales markets? In the last two decades, the word diversity has been used to express one of the single most important driving forces behind tourism development (UNWTO 2009). Scholars such as Pine and Gilmore (2011) underline how tourists are increasingly seeking heterogeneous and increasingly immersive tourism experiences. Others, including Fabris (2006), Buhalis and Costa (2006), and Canestrini (2004), suggest that post-industrial, ever more experienced tourists are increasingly motivated to experience the culture of the place visited. Following Dall’Ara (2015, 18), who engineered the AD hospitality model, tourists are increasingly: – aware of the potential residing in information technology – self-organized – interested in interacting directly with the culture of the places visited – more attracted by places newly entered into the tourism market which have their own distinct identities This search for original tourism products is creating a new sales market for hospitality services, both in rural areas and in historic centers. Those needs can, within the same areas, also be partly met by establishing conventional hotel structures. This book, therefore, tries to answer the following question:

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110643763-001

2

1 Introduction

Q2. Does the AD represent a new product? ADs are spreading in predominantly rural areas which, for the purposes of this book, can generally be described as “paesi” or hamlets that have fewer than 150 inhabitants/ km2 (OECD 2006). These areas may be rich in both natural and historical resources but, mainly due to higher accessibility costs compared to urban centers, often struggle to attract the levels of investment necessary to create hotels. This is where the AD model has come to the fore. In the past, such investments have been dissuaded by depopulation and the marginalization of rural areas. More recently, overcrowding in urban areas is becoming a common thread linking developed and developing countries. For instance: – According to the 2018 Revision of World Urbanization Prospects, the world’s urban population surpassed the number of rural residents in 2010 and is likely to rise by a further 2.5 billion people, to more than 6 billion people by 2050 (UN 2018). – Many rural municipalities have seen their resident populations decrease as employment opportunities become increasingly scarce compared to opportunities available in urban centers (Eurostat 2016; ESPON-EU 2017, 2018; Matanle and Rausch 2012; Pew Research Center 2018). In the rural tourism sector, fully satisfying the demands for post-industrial tourism seems to depend on the possibility to develop a hotel hospitality model based on local, thus characteristic, historical conditions. Doing so does not necessarily imply drastically modifying existing production processes which have been engineered to manage conventional hotel hospitality models. This brings us to consider the following question:

Q3. Does the establishment of an AD imply the adoption of a new production process? Assessing the changes considered by Q2 represents a complex challenge. Innovating a new production process represents just one way to respond to this challenge, and may not actually be compulsory. As researchers have suggested (ESPON-EU 2017, 2), “policy-makers can address these changes by adopting two, essentially alternative, policy approaches”: – the “going for growth” approach, trying to reverse shrinking trends and stimulate population growth in rural areas – the “coping with decline” approach, accepting shrinkage and adapting to its economic and social consequences The AD represents a hotel business of public interest. It helps decision makers “to plan for the best and work for the worst” by adopting resource-based strategies. This brings us to consider the following question regarding the way in which it operates:

1 Introduction

3

Q4. Does the enactment of an AD require the development of new (local) supply markets? The use of the suffix “diffuse” (in English, “scattered”), represents a promise made by the ADs to their guests that they will experience both the hotel and the territory in which they are staying. Thus, the possibility to fulfill this promise depends heavily on the way in which the AD’s management and its staff manage interactions between guests and the local community, for instance, by activating both static (all-encompassing) and dynamic (on-demand) packaging initiatives. Managing those interactions requires the AD’s management and staff to: – locate the necessary local suppliers – assess their capacities, abilities, and skills – assess their availability to enter into partnership – manage income opportunities by creating the experiences required by guests but not yet otherwise offered The above questions lead to the following, final question:

Q5. Does the resource acquisition and preservation process enacted by an AD allow the reorganization and/or restructuring of the tourist destination? Some authors, including Hjalager, Kwiatkowski, and Larsen (2017, 1) suggest that “any hotel should continuously bring innovations toward the market, especially by supplying products, services, and experiences required by its guests.” This should be done in order to: – leapfrog the visibility of a shrinking rural hamlet within an increasingly crowded international tourism market – increase revenues from lodging and food, tourism core, and other services, – improve the local economy – preserve the local resources leveraged Often, an ideal productive process is the one that delivers the innovations required by its potential customers; its basic requirements are the requirements of those customers; and it promotes itself to customers at the time when the customers themselves have demanded it. The AD represents an attempt to: – innovate tourism destinations through leveraging local traditions and by preserving the environment – synchronize the rhythm of innovation processes occurring within the sector and within the rural destination in which it operates – adopt a resource-based lean production process – achieve a both sustainable and sustained competitive advantage This book deals with the way in which the AD addresses these challenges.

4

1 Introduction

Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 of this book will assess Q1 on how ADs are developing new sales markets and Q2 regarding the way in which they represent a new product. The second chapter outlines the key features of a hotel hospitality model, which is its ability to meet the expectations, needs, and requirements of a post-industrial tourism market while, at the same time, recovering historical buildings and contributing to slowing down the depopulation processes affecting rural areas (Dall’Ara 2015; Confalonieri 2011a, 2011b; Dichter 2008; Dichter and Dall’Ara 2008; Dall’Ara and Esposto 2005). Regarding Q2, the Albergo Diffuso (AD) model has been described (Dichter 2008, 3) as follows: – An Italian innovation, first conceived in a mountainous area of the Eastern Alps in Italy in response to an earthquake that occurred in 1976. – A unique experience of living a rural hamlet and a historical center. – It provides all the services of traditional hotels. – The rooms are scattered around the hamlet or historical center. – It provides the sensation of being a local. – Guests are temporary residents and not traditional visitors. – It responds to the demands of the post-industrial, third generation tourist. Chapter 2 describes the similarities and differences that exist between the AD and two of the most famous examples of the conventional hospitality model, represented by the hotel chains founded by César Ritz and Kemmons Wilson, and their heterogeneous growth rates. The first of these ADs, the Sas Benas, opened in Sardinia in 2002 and led to the AD model being officially recognized in Italy under a specific law (ADI 2018d). As of July 2018, more than 120 Alberghi Diffusi have been opened in Italy and abroad, predominantly in Spain, France, Croatia and Japan (ADI 2018e). These hotels adhere to the rural hamlet and the territory in which they operate. Moreover, a large part of the resources they need to leverage are located outside firm boundaries. Thus, they can be described as horizontal hotels (Dall’Ara 2015, 23). In short, Chapter 2 deals with an innovation which has received recognition from the European Business Incubators Network (EBN) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) at the international contest “helping new talents to grow” as “a hotel hospitality model allowing decision makers to meet the increasing demand of sustainable tourism services, to be exported in developing countries” (Dichter 2008, 10). Last, but not least, no hotel hospitality model had previously been born in response to an earthquake. The original, key features of this hotel hospitality model have consistently attracted the attention of the media, as can be readily observed by searching the internet. In particular: – The AD has generated numerous free-of-charge reports on radio and TV, for example, the BBC, as well as in newspapers including The New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic, etc. (ADI 2018c).

1 Introduction

5

– In 2010, the innovation won the prestigious World Travel Market Global Award (ADI 2018d). – From 2005 to 2012, various books were published in Italian (including Dall’Ara and Esposto 2005; Dall’Ara 2015; Droli and Dall’Ara 2012). – Finally, a plethora of scientific studies dealing with the innovation were published over the last 20 years (Google Scholar 2019). Despite these achievements, there are no books available in English that assess its key features, both well-known and hidden. Chapter 3 also aims to assess Q2 – whether the AD represents a new product – and Q3 about whether it implies the adoption of a new production process. The relatively low levels of environmental pollution in the places in which the ADs operate compared to the relatively high levels present in urban areas where guests live contribute to increasing the potential sales market for the AD. They represent two sides of the same coin. Chapter 3 goes on to highlight the role played by the conviviality, the clean air to breathe, the perceivable sense of security, and the other resources on offer that, representing the “luxuries of the new millennium” (Enzensberger 1999) or “matrix resources” (Droli and Osti 2013), increase the appeal of rural areas, especially in the eyes of urban dwellers. Despite the fact that these resources have been declared to be of strategic importance by Dall’Ara who engineered the hospitality model, they remain poorly considered by existing publications. Chapter 3 investigates the role each of these can play for both sustainable tourism development purposes and residential marketing purposes. Generating a new product and improving on the existing ones can require decision makers to adopt new production processes as well. This is surely the case here. Chapter 4 addresses Q3 regarding innovation in the production process by supplying a consistent theoretical framework. As suggested in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, an AD is a resource-based business which can generate the required cash flows if both the natural and cultural productive inputs existing in the place in which it operates have been recognized as valuable by actual and potential markets and, therefore, if they achieve the status of resource (Barney 1991; Barney, Ketchen and Wright 2011). Generally, studies dealing with the AD model have poor theoretical support. Chapter 4, instead, offers resource based theory (RBT) as a tool which can be adopted to assess the valuability, rarity, inimitability, and non-substitutability (VRIN) of local productive inputs. It also focuses on the way in which VRIN resources, once assessed, can be efficiently organized within a production process in order to achieve at least a competitive surviving position and a defensible, thus sustained, competitive advantage. Chapter 5, which is centered on the business model of the AD, deals especially with Q4 focusing the development of new (local) supply markets and Q5 related to the impact of an AD on tourism development processes within the tourism destination in which it operates. It represents both value creation processes and value

6

1 Introduction

appropriation processes in action by following the line of the nine building blocks that constitute the business model canvas (Osterwalder and Pigneur 2010). Furthermore, that chapter underlines the value proposition that makes the AD an original hotelier hospitality model (Q2). Most importantly for the purposes of this chapter, it provides a snapshot of the key partners that constitute a new, communitybased, production process (Q3) and represent the supply market (Q4). Last, but not least, all of the chapters in this book deal with the ways in which ADs are restructuring tourism destinations.

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality This chapter describes a resource-based model of hotelier hospitality that is reshaping the hotel industry and supporting sustainable tourism. Questions assessed in this chapter include the following: – In what historical phenomenon is this hospitality model rooted? – What are its main key features? – Does this innovation contain major flaws? Furthermore, this chapter will offer information and arguments on the following key moments in the history of AD: – the strategic role played by local history in developing the ancient hospitality model and inspiring the AD – the steps taken by local decision makers to supply the new name – the strategic role played by Giancarlo Dall’Ara in defining the new hotelier hospitality model – the key features and the pros and cons of the model The following pages discuss some of the links between the AD and the early accommodation facilities, such as its horizontal nature, the strategic role played by the hosting community in determining its success, and the development of the culture of giving since the Middle Ages.

2.1 Similarities between the AD and the earliest hospitality models The AD model meets the expectations of travellers who are passionate about local history and traditions and wish to learn about the life stories of the people running the accommodation. The motto “chez l’habitant” is particularly significant, expressing one of the most important features of the AD: its connection with some of the oldest hospitality facilities of the past (Dall’Ara 2015, 23). We begin by briefly examining three types of similarities between these protohotelier concepts and the AD. For further information, the reader is referred to the tourism history texts indicated below.

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110643763-002

8

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

2.1.1 The horizontal distribution of hospitality rooms The birth of the first models of tourism hospitality resulted from a range of historical phenomena, one of which was the development of religious tourism. Christian pilgrims travelling from across Europe to the tombs of Peter and Paul in Rome, or on the way to the Holy Land, needed places to stay and eat along the way. Over time, Italy became one of the first ever tourist destinations. This dates back to the 3rd century AD and is the basis of the hospitality facilities we know of, some of which were called “tabernae” or “horrea” (Peyer 1990; Rück 1977). The first tabernae arose in the cities and villages along the main roads of the time, and their restaurants were often converted artisan workshops or food stores, the accommodation facilities being simply a single room. During the late Roman period (5th century BC), the tabernae gave rise to more complex facilities in which the guests’ rooms were separated from those used for providing food. This period gave rise to horizontal proposals such as the hospitium. In the countryside, the hospitia were often adjacent to small churches and so were protected by walls to defend guests from burglaries and assaults. Figure 2.1 illustrates the horizontal layout of the hospitium of San Nicolò degli Alzeri in a mountainous area called Carnia in northeastern Italy, in the current region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. That hospitium was destroyed by a flood, was then hidden and protected by the grass growing over it until it was discovered centuries later by archaeologists in 2007. Nowadays, it represents one of the best-preserved hospitia in Europe. The architect Fabio Piuzzi, a medieval specialist, was responsible for the excavation conducted on behalf of the Superintendence of Archaeological Heritage of Friuli Venezia Giulia in San Nicolò degli Alzeri. Piuzzi describes the characteristics of the medieval hospitality offered by San Nicolò degli Alzeri (Ferrario and Longhi 2000) emphasizing the role played by the “host knights” in developing the hospitality industry in more recent historical periods (Roccati 2007; Flavigny 2006; Demurger 2004; Peyrefitte 1968; Le Roulx 1904). As Piuzzi writes: The Host Knights played a fundamental role in the construction of medieval “hospitia”. These hospitallers, also known as Knights of the Order of St. John, the Knights of Rhodes and the Knights of the Order of Malta, belonged to the monastic-chivalric orders such as the Templars or the Teutonic ones. They were born after the first Crusade to the Holy Land (1099) in order to defend the pilgrims moving along their journeys toward the holy places. The first pilgrimages were organized by the monastic orders – including the Benedictine monks, the Cistercian monks and other perhaps less chivalrous ones – and prompted the development of the hospitia whose development was accelerated by the crusades. The hospitium of San Nicolò degli Alzeri is a rarity, one of a kind. Its structure followed the design of the “Hospitable” [or hospice open to all] “Commenda” of San Tomaso di Majano, founded in 1199. The complex dates back to the first half of the thirteenth century and consists of three main buildings built in different periods, the whole being surrounded by walls, along

2.1 Similarities between the AD and the earliest hospitality models

9

with a church with a monumental tomb. The complex included a kitchen and other rooms designed to accommodate both guests and monks. Many of the previously quite numerous hospitia have been destroyed and/or incorporated or transformed into other buildings. Arta’s hospitium is one of the few structures whose planimetric levels remain in their original, 13th century, configurations. Abandoned in the first half of the 16th century after a massive flood, it was subsequently simply dismantled with no transformation. The archaeological excavation allows us to see how one of the oldest accommodation facilities for shelter and hospitality was organized in the Middle Ages. (Piuzzi 2012)

Religious pilgrimages can be traced on several continents. In Europe, San Nicolò degli Alzeri and other hospitia can be seen as prototypes of conventional hotels (Girelli 2006; Piuzzi 2009). Nevertheless, its structure develops on the horizontal

Figure 2.1: The medieval hospitia at San Nicolò degli Alzeri. Source: Piuzzi F. L’Ospizio dei Cavalieri di San Giovanni presso la Chiesa di San Nicolò degli Alzeri di Piano d’Arta. I campagna 2007, 2009.

10

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

level and is more similar to that of an AD than that of a conventional hotel having a mainly vertical development. This makes “conventional” hotels those owning or controlling rooms which are horizontally distributed, and vice versa, quite different from what is generally acknowledged by hotel industry managers, tourism industry decision makers and public institutions.

2.1.2 The strategic role played by the hosting community Guests staying in an AD are welcomed both by the staff and by the local community. This feature links the AD to the first experiences of hospitality in human history. The term “community” is originally Latin (“communitas”), deriving from communis (“cum-munus”), or performing a task (“munus”) together with (“cum”) others. Consistent with this, the Oxford Living English Dictionary (2018) defines a community as “a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common.” The origins of the culture of hospitality among rural communities were in the days of the great European monarchies of the 10th century, specifically the practice of sovereigns, nobles and ecclesiastics to travel around their own kingdoms in the company of their courtiers. Most importantly in these hierarchical societies, the noble class claimed the right to receive lodging and food from the people living in their kingdom. By virtue of this right of accommodation (Brühl 1968), families living in rural communities were obliged to provide their illustrious and powerful guests with adequate accommodation facilities and often designated part of their houses for that purpose – provided they had the space, however basic the rooms were. In other words, both the owner(s) of the house(s) accommodating these guests and the whole surrounding community had the honor and the burden of receiving them. Explorations of the interactions between medieval local communities and their powerful guests are outside the scope of this book, but we might perhaps note that the communities’ internal strength enabled both their very survival, per se, from the 10th century onwards, and their ability to offer accommodation to guests, which in itself contributed to that community’s strength. We see, therefore, the local community playing a strategic role in the culture of hospitality, especially in rural areas throughout the period. The right of accommodation seems to be the basis of the concept of hospitality at the heart of the AD model, connecting companies that offer accommodation services with the local community in a unique hospitality model.

2.2 The AD within the general debate on alternative development models

11

2.1.3 The gift-oriented culture Over time, the exercise of the right of accommodation by noble landowners and the duty of hospitality by farmers who cultivated their lands produced some common practices, such as that of the donation of a portion of the products of their lands to their noble owners on a visit. Such products cannot be described as a gift, because they were, according to feudal law, already owned by the person to whom they were given: indeed, a true gift is an object or a service given to someone without the expectation of something in return. Thus, despite changes to rural feudal relationships in subsequent centuries, the habit of farmers of donating some of their produce to their noble owners on a visit remained one of the most important cultural resources in the countryside. From the 11th and 12th centuries, the right of accommodation was extended beyond the exclusive prerogative of the nobility and, in a period which saw the intensification of commercial exchanges, hospitality became a service based on the exchange of money. The giving of favors and gifts by the hosts, in order to ingratiate themselves with the guest, remained features of the early forms of commercial hospitality and hosting communities for a long time. In summary, ancient hospitia and ADs have several essential qualities in common, including the horizontal distribution of the rooms, the important welcoming role played by the local community and the culture of the gift. It is on the basis of these similarities that the AD attempts to balance the ancient with the modern: the medieval model with the quality standards of conventional hotels of today. In the AD, introducing guests to residents skilled in gathering mushrooms or picking medicinal plants, or giving these guests free lessons in milking a cow or making cheese, are examples of the links between the AD and the most remote history of hospitality and its gift-oriented culture. The AD model, moreover, links guests with productive resources waiting to be leveraged to improve the attractiveness of the hospitality model itself. This brings us to the academic debate on the AD.

2.2 The AD within the general debate on alternative development models This new hotel hospitality model tries to make stable connections between rural hamlets often lacking conventional hotels and current tourist market trends. Given this, international organizations such as the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the European Business Incubator Network (EBN) and the Innovation for Development and South-South Cooperation (IDEASS) programs have rewarded the hospitality model engineered by Giancarlo Dall’Ara and have recognized it as a particular hotelier hospitality model (Dichter and Dall’Ara 2008).

12

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

Some scholars have compared the traditional hotel with the private rental home and the AD (Dichter and Dall’Ara 2008; Dropulić, Krajnović and Ružić 2008; Racine 2012). Those scholars suggested there were similarities among them but also especially emphasized the differences that would allow us to talk about an original hospitality model. The AD represents a particular hotel hospitality model as Dichter and Dall’Ara suggest: [. . .] conceived to provide the guests with the unique experience of living in an historical town or village centre. It provides all the services of traditional hotels (welcoming, assistance, common spaces, meals), although the rooms are scattered around the historical centre, within a radius of around two hundred meters from the centre at the heart of the hotel (containing the reception, common spaces and restaurant). The rooms and apartments are set within blocks and buildings which, as part of the historical centre, and having been appropriately restored according to the local culture, immediately provide the sensation of being local. (Dichter and Dall’Ara 2008, 3)

This hotel hospitality model is thus very distinct from pre-existing ones including the Cesar Ritz (Ritz-Carlton) and the Kemmons Wilson (Holiday Inn) models. We do not wish to delve deeply into the characteristics of previous models, but some references must be made to the major differences. The following sections describe the AD innovation relative to the pre-existing hotel hospitality models.

2.2.1 The AD versus other vertical hospitality models The AD shows discontinuities with pre-existing hotel hospitality models, including those considered here. Table 2.1 compares the Ritz’s hospitality model and Wilson’s and Dall’Ara’s hotelier hospitality models. The César Ritz hotel hospitality model. The Swiss hotelier César Ritz (1850–1918) opened the 58-room Ritz Paris (F) on the Place Vendôme in 1898, the first hotel of its kind. In doing so, he became “the king of hoteliers and the hotelier to kings,” to quote the famous phrase of the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII of Great Britain (Montgomery, Watkin and Collie 1980, 4–30). According to its business mission, any Ritz Hotel should both let the nobles feel as they were at home and allow the emerging bourgeois class to feel they, too, are noble – the only thing they cannot be. This ritual inversion principle was enacted by – among other special characteristics of the brand – delivering sumptuous hotel services and by maintaining formal, rigid interaction protocols. Ritz-Carlton is now the name of the hotel chain whose brand inherited, by purchase, the legacy of Cèsar Ritz. Established in Boston by Albert Keller, its first hotel began operating in Boston in 1940, and by December 2017 it had 91 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries (Ritz-Carlton Hotels 2019). So, during the 120 years spanning the lives of the Ritz and Ritz-Carlton hotels, the number of hotels has grown at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.9%.

2.2 The AD within the general debate on alternative development models

13

Table 2.1: Ritz’s hospitality model, and Wilson’s and Dall’Ara’s hotelier hospitality models. Hotel Hospitality Models Ritz-Carlton

Holiday Inn

AD

Early founder

Cesàr Ritz*

Charles Kemmons Wilson

Giancarlo Dall’Ara

Quotation

the king of hoteliers and hotelier to kings

the man who changed the the man who let the face of the American road hotel becomes invisible

Mission

let the nobles feel as if they were at home and allow the bourgeois class to believe it is the only thing that it cannot become: noble

ensuring clean rooms, standard rates, good food and accessible places to people on-the-go

allowing travellers to feel as if they were “temporary residents” while enjoying services and comfort supplied by a small hotel

Opening year of the st hotel







st hotel place

Ritz Paris (F)

Holiday Inn Hotel Courts, Memphis, TN, US)

Sas Benas, Santu Lussurgiu (OR, Italy)

No. of hotels as of Dec. 

*

,

**

Countries covered by the brand



N/A



Concept year of the brand







CAGR in that period

.%

.%

.%

*

Albert Keller since 1965. ADs certified by the ADI.

**

Kemmons Wilson’s hotel hospitality model. In 1952 Charles Kemmons Wilson (1913–2003) opened the full-service “Holiday Inn Hotel Courts” in Memphis. He created what the Pulitzer-prize winning journalist David Halberstam called “the vacation that changed the face of the American road” (Halberstam 1994, 12). Like César Ritz, the entrepreneur Kemmons Wilson, a practicing Catholic, endowed his creation with a simple, original and effective business mission: ensuring clean rooms, standard rates, good food and accessible places for people on-the-go. As of December 2018, there were 1,163 Holiday Inn Hotels around the world (IHG 2018), having grown at a CAGR of 11.3%.

14

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

The AD hospitality model. In the mid-90s (1995) the Italian philosopher Giancarlo Dall’Ara defined a hotel hospitality model called AD because its functional units were embedded in at least two pre-existing buildings located in rural hamlets and historical centers. He can thus be represented as the man who let hotels become invisible. As with the previous hotelier hospitality model, the mission was effective and original: to allow travellers to feel that they were temporary residents in places that were off the beaten track while enjoying the services and comfort of a small hotel. Thus, unlike in a conventional hotel, the AD’s reception, breakfast room, dining room and bedrooms are embedded in the local reality in which it operates. Such embeddedness allows its management “to act as one of the most important stakeholders in the local reality” (Dichter and Dall’Ara 2008, 3). It also allows them to persuade owners of buildings to improve the quality of the services offered, helping entrepreneurs to link tourism with the most traditional sectors, such as local gastronomy and handicrafts, and to protect the natural and cultural resources whose potential benefits are harnessed by the AD. It’s been 16 years since the 2002 creation of the first AD officially recognized by a specific regional law – opened in Sas Benas in Santu Lussurgiu (Sardinia). Since then 89 ADs have been certified by the Alberghi Diffusi National Association (ADI), a CAGR growth of 32.4%. ADs also operate abroad, in increasing numbers. Yet, there are still millions of empty houses with untapped potential, especially in rural areas and historical centers: for instance, in Italy the Italian Central Statistics Institute Census 2011 places the number at seven million (ISTAT 2014a). There thus needs to be a further acceleration of the rate of establishment of new ADs in order to improve the market visibility of rural hamlets as tourist destinations, help tackle youth drain, and slow down the abandonment of cultivable land by relaunching sustainable tourism and investments in rural areas.

2.2.2 The AD versus other horizontal hospitality models Along with the AD there are other horizontal hospitality models: the countryside AD (“Albergo Diffuso di Campagna”), the scattered residence (“Residence Diffuso”) and the village hotel (“Paese Albergo”). Table 2.2 compares countryside Albergo Diffuso, village hotels and Albergo Diffuso. The countryside AD (Albergo Diffuso di Campagna). The ADI defines the countryside AD as “a hospitable structure having the same characteristics as an AD strictu sensu but located in rural contexts of historical and architectural importance including ancient villages” (ADI 2018e; Dall’Ara 2015, 31–32). Often, all the services required by the guests can be supplied from within an ancient medieval village. In other cases, a kind of hotelier hospitality model can operate outside the boundaries of the historical center or rural hamlet: this structure, when it offers the accommodation, food and beverage services supplied by an AD, can be

2.2 The AD within the general debate on alternative development models

15

Table 2.2: Countryside AD, Village Hotel and Albergo Diffuso. Hospitality Model Main quality attributes

Scattered Residence

Village Hotel

Countryside Albergo Diffuso

AD

Kind of hospitality model

Non-hotelier

Non-hotelier

Hotelier

Hotelier

Displacement respect historical centers/rural hamlets

External

internal-external External

Internal

Distances separating building hosting rooms and reception

Generally high

Generally high

Generally medium

Generally small (– meters)

Services

Non-hotelier

Hotelier and non-hotelier

Hotelier

Hotelier

termed a countryside Albergo Diffuso (CAD). For instance, some agritourism enterprises (farm-based accommodation) can give rise to a CAD, when they: i) own at least seven rooms of the appropriate standard, and ii) they commit themselves to offering hotelier services to their guests. Often, buildings adopted by these structures are some kilometers away from the village where commercial activities, offices and services are located. In this sort of situation, the guests are somewhat separated from the products and services that would be needed for them to regard themselves as quasi-residents. This scattered service, therefore, exemplifies the lack of what is required to qualify as an hotel. Scattered Residence (a.k.a. Residence Diffuso). The Alberghi Diffusi National Association (2018e) defines a scattered residence (SR) as “a non-hotel hospitality model characterized by a centralized booking system and by basic reception and assistance services. Such a structure offers guests a centralized reception desk service networking with houses that are very distant both from each other and from the reception.” (Dall’Ara 2015, 32). This hospitality model has not so far been tried in Italy. The Italian tourism legislation scholar Francesco Morandi suggests the SR could work as a network established through collaboration agreements between hospitality operators and others whether or not they are entrepreneurs. They would coordinate their efforts, without unitary management, in order to provide reception services and accommodation in a particular building landscape, regulated by regional legislation (Dall’Ara and Morandi 2010). Thus, SRs differ from CADs because of the distances separating the building’s hosting rooms and because they do not offer hotel services. Village hotel (a.k.a. Paese Albergo). There are no universally accepted definitions of the village hotel (VH). The ADI describes the VH as “a whole historical centre or even whole town self-organized by means of a hospitality network offering

16

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

guests rooms, houses, bars, restaurants, reception services and common spaces, made available through a centralized booking service, with no unified management, leaving the single operators independent” (Dall’Ara 2015, 33, ADI 2018e). The management of a scattered hospitality operation known as a VH is more complex because it includes agritourism enterprises, B&Bs and other bodies, commercial and not, operating in one particular municipality. One definition that recognizes this complexity states: a scattered hospitality model aiming to enhance an inhabited rural hamlet or historical centre by the setting-up of a network of rooms, houses, bars, restaurants, reception services, travel agencies, information offices, common areas for guests and other services, made available to tourists through centralized booking, even in the absence of a unifying management (Dall’Ara, 2010). In Italy, the first legislation using the term village hotel (Paese Albergo) was the Regional Law No. 11 of 8/4/1988 in the Calabria region entitled: “Provisions for tourism development in the hinterland. Project village hotel.” By adopting this law, “the region promotes the implementation of initiatives and training and capacity building, to facilitate the permanence of local communities in the smallest population centers suitable for tourism development in the hilly areas and mountains through the integration of corporate and personal income” (Article 1 of the above mentioned Regional Law No. 11/1988). According to a resolution adopted by the Sardinia Regional Council (No. 28/26 on July 26th, 2007), a village hotel is defined by Art. 30 as “a hospitality operator network established through collaboration agreements between individuals who may or may not be entrepreneurs. The reception activity must be carried out in collaboration, with no unified management, in order to provide accommodation and other services in multiple buildings throughout a substantial part of a residential area, in accordance with the requirements of the Regional Council.” More recently, VHs established in some of the most attractive and competitive tourism destinations of the Alps, including the Trentino-Alto Adige region, are less able to adopt the previously existing definitions, which are more suited to VHs operating in semi-abandoned ones. The village hotel has been defined here as: “a slow-tourism based concept made possible by establishing a formalized partnership among tourism entrepreneurs, non-tourism firms, not-for-profit associations and public decision makers active in the same municipality, having the same purpose of supplying tourists, residents, returning emigrants and daily travellers with newness, quality, social responsibility and environmental preservation services” (Droli 2017, 3). In Italy, a VH can include punctual tourism hospitality models including hotels, farms, campsites, holiday houses and apartments, country houses, historic houses, alpine refuges, tourist villages and B&Bs. Innovative, and often unclassified, hospitality models include huts, castles, chalets, farms; masi (farmsteads which cannot be divided up between different heirs, typical of the Tirol), masserie (large farms in southern Italy), and so on (Becheri 2005).

2.2 The AD within the general debate on alternative development models

17

In brief, the AD, and all the scattered hospitality models mentioned above, represent discontinuities along the evolution path followed by a VH. These scattered hospitality models share the following characteristics: – Nothing new has to be built; only restructuring is allowed. – Tourists should be regarded as temporary residents. – Local lifestyle, authenticity and interactions between tourists and local residents should be considered the most important resource. – They are the engine, which is otherwise lacking, for promoting sustainable tourism in rural areas. – They require the activation of a simple network: of firms of the same kind, or a fuller private-private partnership, or a more complex public-private partnership. – They can be a tool that accelerates both private and public investments and stops the “youth drain” in rural areas. The following pages focus on what academic scholars have written about the key features of the AD.

2.2.3 The AD within the academic debate Most of the studies dealing with the AD within the academic debate are focused on three issues: neolocal tourism, community-based tourism and the sustainability of cultural tourism. Neolocal tourism. Recognizing the AD as a neolocal product requires adopting the viewpoint of a wide range of people in both rural and urban areas: it can represent “the intention of local communities to reinforce the link between them and local-regional lore to avoid the destruction of traditional bonds to community and family in the modern world” (Shortridge 1996, 10). In other words, it represents a reaction to the progressive removal from a landscape of its unique features: the reaffirmation of “distinctive local conditions” (Flack 1997, 38), while mediating the negative effects of globalization and urbanization (Brain 2011). The way in which neolocalism can provide jobs, increase community involvement, and enhance local pride remain complex and largely unexplored fields of. The AD demonstrates a variety of ways in which it can manage and capture proximally grown (called: Km 0) income opportunities (Droli 2013b) generated within the local communities. Furthermore, neolocalism can influence tourism sustainability, spread environmentally-friendly production methods and encourage support for local causes and charities (Graefe, Mowen and Graefe 2018). Scattered firms often show great interest in preserving local resources – including historic sites, protected natural areas, parks, local brands and the sense of place and its identity – by harnessing its potential through the development of neolocal tourism experiences.

18

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

Neolocalism often plays an increasingly important role in evolving post-carbon local economies. The local movement and the role of local production, distribution and consumption can link people to the landscape and contribute to a deeper level of understanding in support of taking action at personal and political levels to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (Cavaliere 2017). The AD has shown its ability to generate income opportunities by making stable connections between local cultural and natural resources, as well as some global trends in the tourism market such as neolocal tourism. The birth of the AD coincided with the emergence of the new postmodern tourist (Fabris 2009), who may be understood as a new consumer interested in local resources, history and traditions and willing to interact deeply with them (Dichter and Dall’Ara 2008, 3). These interactions produce both “neolocalism” and the AD and may be closely interlinked. By adopting a managerial viewpoint, John Naisbitt (1993) suggested that the processes of economic globalization could result in an increase in the smallest players’ productive efficiency. As is suggested here, the processes of globalization and localization are mutually reinforcing, like the processes of identification and individuation in the growth of human beings. To stay competitive in such a dynamic tourism market, the management of an AD must develop certain local resources that can be available ad hoc, thus offering highly appealing tourism experiences that allow the guests to immerse themselves in the local context (Dolezal 2011, 129; Fiorello and Bo 2012, 762). This is particularly important if the hosts are to meet the expectations of the most experienced tourists who are capable of choosing their own destination from among the offerings provided. They also wish to co-create value with local suppliers and they are searching for tourism experiences that appeal both to the senses and to the imagination (Grönroos and Strandvik 2008; Pencarelli 2005, Holbrook and Hirschman 1982). Conceptually, neolocalism follows in this vein. It can be described as the “refutation of the homogenisation of place and culture required by globalisation processes” (Schnell 2013, 56) currently affecting the broader cultural tourism scene (Ghafele and Santagata 2006; Hughes 1996; Priestley et al. 2008; Richards 2006). Taking this stimulus-response view further, the AD can be described as the desire to leverage the fragments of a rural hamlet’s biocultural fingerprint (Chang, Iseppi and Piccinini 2007; Iseppi, Chang and Droli 2013), which are considered valuable by the tourism market. Similarly, neolocalism can be described as the desire of travellers to reaffirm the typically local in response to the constant lack of uniqueness throughout the range of tourist offerings (Flack 1997, 38). By adopting such a contract-based approach, this hospitality model can be seen as the desire to respond to the rising demand for identity and authenticity within the experiential tourism market by stimulating the process of real estate refurbishment. Community-based tourism. The organization of normal hotel hospitality structures requires the management to control a specific number of rooms. Setting up an AD, by contrast, requires the management to control both a specific number

2.2 The AD within the general debate on alternative development models

19

of rooms and a local community interested in working together and providing a tourism service (Dichter and Dall’Ara 2008, 6). In order to transform unique local resources into innovative and successful tourism products through community involvement, the necessary conditions include the assessment of the local need for innovation, the development of an authentic method and the management of the required real estate refurbishments. But for true community-based tourism these conditions are not in themselves sufficient. In the tourism market research field, the ecology of tourists’ behavior has received considerable attention, both at an international level, with the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism (UNWTO 2001), and at a national level (Scheyvens 2002). In particular, the United Nations World Tourism Organization’s Global Code of Ethics for Tourism, endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly in 2001, spurred various initiatives aimed at sensitizing public opinion to issues concerning the development of responsible tourism. There is no universally accepted definition of community-based tourism (Mitchell and Muckosy 2008). The term is relatively recent and widely used in developing countries where it describes a variety of activities that encourage and support a wide range of objectives in economic and social development and conservation (The Mountain Institute 2000). The Thailand Community Based Tourism Network Coordination Center (CBT-N-CC), representing a key institution in this field, defines CBT as the tourism that takes environmental, social and cultural sustainability into account. It is managed and owned by the community, for the community, with the purpose of enabling visitors to increase their awareness and learn about the community and local ways of life (CBT-N-CC 2018). Moreover, it has been defined as “tourism that takes environmental, social and cultural sustainability into account. It is managed and owned by the community, for the community, with the purpose of enabling visitors to increase their awareness and learn about the community and local ways of life” (Thailand Community Based Tourism Network Coordination Center 2018). From the viewpoint of businesses, social corporate responsibility and the strategic implications of community-based tourism are well known (Grigolli 2011; Carroll 1991; McWilliams, Siegel and Wright 2006). At the same time, community support for tourism activities and sustainable development are becoming central issues in tourism analysis (Goodstein and Wicks 2007; Richards and Hall 2003). For the purposes of this book one of the most important parts of that definition is “managed and owned by the community, for the community” (George et al. 2007, 1; Mtapuri and Giampiccoli 2013; 3), especially because the tourism sector has been “criticised for its high skills leakage, low salaries and poor participation of local communities” (Yang and Hung 2014, 883). The ethical values and moral attitudes of a local community, however, can influence the performance of the AD and vice versa, as has been suggested, more generally, by Putnam (1993).

20

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

Narrowly defined, developing an AD requires its management to share income opportunities with local communities and to manage interactions created to achieve common goals. For instance, the strategic role played by interactions between tourists, culinary tourism and craftsmanship has been demonstrated by several studies on different continents (Schnell 2013). Very small organizations acting within the community are inherently better capable of supplying the small amounts of goods and services required by their guests. There are many such bodies within the tourism industry. According to Dahles (1999), they tend to be controlled by local residents, to generate employment within the community, and to be more in tune with the requirements of sustainable development. In other words, the interactions established between the AD’s management and the local community influence the success of the AD. As has been suggested, “the local community is the bearer of love for their own history, respect for nature, preservation of old crafts, hospitality to visitors and other key elements of an anthropological culture permeating the AD’s activity” (Vallone and Veglio 2013, 32). The decision makers proposing the creation of a horizontal hotel often receive much support from the community which is asked to collaborate in creating the final product (Vallone and Veglio 2013). The AD, by cultivating such initial consent, can involve individual and business capabilities, as well as not-for-profit organizations that are formally independent because they act outside strict boundaries and which could not be involved simply by the exercise of the management’s authority. By so doing, a local community can increase the AD’s attractiveness in the tourism market. Such interactions, once generated, enable the management to further differentiate the tourist services offered without increasing fixed costs. In this way, the local community can create added competitiveness for both existing firms and new ones. In welcoming guests, the AD and the local community together can increase their common reputation as an area able to satisfy tourists. Where there is a danger of the territory overexploiting its own resources, the AD and the local community can put in place joint plans and initiatives aimed at preserving those resources for future generations. As suggested above, “systematic community participation in communitybased organizations can have a significant role in the alleviation of poverty” (Yang and Hung 2014, 884). The chances of success in setting up an AD depend largely on the specific socio-cultural features produced during the history of that territory and on the local characteristics such as geological morphology, climate, wildlife and traditional products. Research projects carried out on the development of ADs in the last decade have shown that these hospitality models have been successfully set up in rural areas, sometimes in the smallest ancient villages, even partially abandoned ones. Local communities are often involved when there is a need to restore the hamlet’s old buildings using traditional construction materials and/or by adopting spontaneous architectural traditions. Those local interventions aimed at revitalizing the rural hamlet

2.2 The AD within the general debate on alternative development models

21

tend to generate increased demand for local skills and can accelerate the income creation processes. According to Beeton (2006, 50), literature on the concept of community-based tourism is growing exponentially. Nevertheless, many of these studies disagree on “whether or not community-based tourism does indeed empower locals” (Sin and Minca 2014, 98). The presence of the term “scattered” in the name of the hotelier hospitality model tends to generate in its guests the expectation of a product capable of representing both the territory and its local identity (Droli 2013c, 95). Structuring such products through especially dynamic tourism packaging initiatives can generate income opportunities for skilled people living in the local community. For example, offering horseback riding can encourage young instructors and competitors to improve their own capabilities by taking specialized classes. The supply of local handicraft courses can encourage the resurgence of craftsmanship and ancient skills that have been forgotten. Structuring in situ permaculture courses can stimulate local farmers to improve their own infrastructures, organization, devices, etc. Community-based tourism seems intuitively to represent an alternative approach to mass tourism and has often been seen as a new panacea in the promotion of “bottom-up” tourism development (Sin and Minca 2014, 98). Whereas the local community is a fundamentally important resource for the setting up of an AD, and it can play a strategic role in improving the well-being of a local community (Bertella and Droli 2013), the local community cannot guarantee the achievement of targets of general interest by itself. The development of an AD is influenced by quite a few other factors, all connected to the type of relationship that develops between the AD and the local community. But that relationship itself can have a great influence on the management and governance of the AD. The best results will, of course, be obtained when the relationships between the two realities are effective (able to help the AD management to improve its market visibility), efficient (able to reduce operating costs), equitable (able to represent the local identity) and environmentally sustainable. The sustainability of cultural tourism. The AD has been designated by the UNDP (Dichter and Dall’Ara 2008) as a model of sustainable development because it aims to exploit, in appropriate ways, the area’s natural parks, cultural heritage, agriculture, handicrafts, local products and other tangible resources while also developing intangible resources like traditions, knowledge and social ties. Vallone (2013, 22) argues that sustainable tourism should be one of the European Commission’s highest priorities and that the AD model’s ability to interact positively with several community objectives makes it a valuable tool. These objectives include economic prosperity, equity and social cohesion. In regard to the first of these, the AD model naturally seeks to use revitalization and innovation of existing assets. On equity and social cohesion, the AD model seeks to improve the quality of life of local communities by attracting new visitors from abroad

22

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

and by offering them valuable experiences. Considering these targets, the AD “has a high potential for growth and job generation” (Vallone 2013, 22). No tourism firm should exceed the carrying capacity of the ecosystems on which it depends, and many studies have been conducted on sustainability as an increasingly important criterion in consumer purchasing decisions, business model innovation, and tourism management (Gladwin et al. 1995; Godfrey and Clarke 2000; Ryan 2002, Liu 2003, and Dwyer et al. 2009; Bramwell and Lane 2011; Buckley 2012). For the purposes of this book, sustainable development can be represented as “a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments and the orientation of technological development and institutional change are all in harmony and all enhance both current and future potential to meet human needs and aspirations” (WCED 1987, 38). This is one of the most important current debates because “despite the growing importance of sustainability in strategic management, the potentials of such a “horizontal” hospitality model in improving the sustainability of cultural tourism destinations do not yet seem adequately recognised and therefore captured” (Montella and Quattrociocchi 2013, 11). Indeed, the establishment of an AD does not require the construction of new buildings but provides for the enhancement of existing ones. Such valorization is rarely the result of the efforts of a single entrepreneur: more often it brings together residents or emigrants owning unused buildings to set up a specific tourism product. It also requires the preservation of local resources by service providers, agricultural firms, artisans, event organizing committees and local administrations. Romolini, Fissi and Gori (2017, 69) wrote recently that 65% of the ADs operating in Italy did not adhere to any sustainability certification or quality branding; 52.2% did not use renewable energy sources (52.2%); but 71% had adopted energyefficient lighting and domestic appliances. Some studies focus on how to achieve sustainability goals. The AD seems to fulfill what Hunter and Green (1995) claim are the minimum requirements: no compromise on the quality of the environment, no impoverishment of the territory, and no change in the socio-cultural balance. Droli and Dall’Ara (2012), Montella (2012), Swarbrooke (1999) and Tonini (2010) all underline how important it is that sustainable tourism firms, as strategic drivers of market visibility, develop innovations that ensure corporate profitability and improve stakeholder benefits in terms of social and environmental sustainability. Those innovations should promote the rational use of resources, benefit both individuals and the community, and meet needs and expectations while preserving the environment. In the last decade, social sustainability issues, in particular, seem to have become even more important and urgent. In order to improve their social sustainability, many firms are trying to act consciously and responsibly towards the environment, society and the distribution of wealth (Borgonovi and Mussari 2011; Golinelli and Volpe 2012; Figge et al. 2002; Schaltegger and Synnestvedt 2002; Salzmann et al. 2005; Borgonovi

2.2 The AD within the general debate on alternative development models

23

and Mussari 2012). In the same way, “ADs are improving their competitive advantage by leveraging the close interaction created between decision makers and the territories in which they operate. In this way, they are enhancing specific resources including historical-artistic and architectural, landscape, eno-gastronomic, craft, etc.” (Montella and Quattrociocchi 2013, 123). In brief, ADs can play a strategic role in promoting sustainable development, especially in rural areas, by considering the social sustainability and multidimensionality of tourism (Jafari 1987; Droli 2012b). Moreover, the vulnerability of tourist destinations to the negative effects of global warming, especially those in the mountains and by the sea, is becoming increasingly important in the debate about the sustainability of tourism (Schott 2011). Most ADs, however, operate in historic villages, ancient rural farmhouses and other minor historical sites, which are less exposed to the problems of lacking winter snow and less sunshine in the summer (Montella and Quattrociocchi 2013; 120), although they are more exposed to severe weather events and other major environmental risks. In general, decision makers need to adopt a forward-looking mentality if they are to reach important goals in terms of increased sustainability, incremental benefits for the community and the continuous enhancement of a “neo-local identity.” All of this requires, first of all, the definition of a planning process for the territory that produces a sustainable strategy in support of local tourism companies’ management (Godfrey and Clarke 2000; BumYong et al. 2002). Then the implementation of the strategy necessary to get the activities done requires the initiation of a public-private partnership (Beritelli 2011; Bramwell and Lane 2011) which brings together public administration; actors in tourism, culture, eco-gastronomy, crafts and so on; the local community; and public decision makers. It is important that this partnership is helped systematically to increase the productivity of its initiatives through the adoption of partnering tools that are rigorous but easy-to-understand, and that involve the public-private partnership per se while respecting the autonomy of each independent partner to make their own decisions (Droli 2007b). Scientific studies carried out on the establishment of an AD can be categorized under the following main headings: – representing the hospitality model characteristics to the scientific community: Villani and Dall’Ara 2015; Confalonieri 2011a, 2011b; Paniccia 2012; Dall’Ara 2002 – the conditions for creating an AD: Avrami and Zarrilli 2012; De Montis et al. 2015; Dropulić, Krajnović and Ružić 2008; Fissi, Gori and Romolini 2014; Paniccia, Pecklaner and Valeri 2007; Tagliabue, Leonforte and Compostella 2012; Droli 2007a, 2007b, 2012a, 2012b, 2013a – the services offered: Orlandini et al. 2012; Vallone and Veglio 2013 – territorial sustainability: Vallone, Orlandini and Cecchetti 2013 – financial and managerial features: Romolini, Fissi and Gori 2017

24

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

A second group of studies explores the advantages and opportunities of the hospitality model for: – small tourist businesses: Dall’Ara, Di Bartolo and Montaguti 2000 – tourism in rural hamlets: Dall’Ara 2009, Paniccia, Pechlaner and Valeri 2007a; De Montis et al. 2014 – agritourism enterprises: Dragicevic and Stjiepo 2015; Valeri 2010 – the management of cultural tourism destinations: Mandelli and La Rocca 2008; Silvestrelli 2011; Tagliabue, Leonforte and Compostella 2012; Mandelli and La Rocca 2006 – the co-management of tourism destinations: Paniccia, Minguzzi and Valeri 2011 – knowledge acquisition: Paniccia 2010; Paniccia, Pechlaner and Valeri 2010, 2007a, 2007b; Paniccia, Silvestrelli and Valeri 2010; Paniccia and Valeri 2010 – the establishment of positive interactions between firms and destinations: Fissi, Gori and Romolini 2014 – the development of innovation: Paniccia et al. 2012 – rural hamlet furniture: Bresciani and Droli 2013 – the environmental sustainability of firms and destinations: Dropulič, Krajnovič and Ruzič 2008; Paniccia, Silvestrelli and Valeri 2013; Montella and Quattrociocchi 2013; Vallone, Orlandini and Cecchetti 2013 – the enhancement of the “skyline of the rural hamlets”: Pepe et al. 2013 – guest satisfaction: Vallone and Veglio 2013 A third group of studies considers the obstacles that need to be removed for the development of the model of hospitality in the territory, exploring such topics as: – the need for adequate regulatory support: Vignali 2011 – the need for the appropriate management of entrepreneurial opportunities: Droli and Dall’Ara 2012 – the economic and organizational diseconomies to be overcome: Droli and Dall’Ara 2012; Droli 2007a – the need for tourism practices helping both entrepreneurs and local communities to reinvent and preserve the built heritage: Bertella and Droli 2019 – the structure of the public-private partnership required to overcome those diseconomies: Droli 2010 – the other reasons why public-private partnerships are needed: Droli 2013; – the social implications and the impact on the community: Bertella and Droli 2013 Despite heterogeneities in the above-mentioned headings, they all have as a common focus both and original name and an unusual hospitality model.

2.3 The birth of the name “Albergo Diffuso”

25

2.3 The birth of the name “Albergo Diffuso” The AD is an Italian concept where “Albergo” means hotel and “Diffuso” implies “extended,” “dispersed,” “scattered,” “spread,” “diffused” and “widespread” (Tagliabue, Leonforte and Compostella 2012, 1061; Monge et al. 2015, 69). Its name represents the first step in the construction of the hospitality model. Figure 2.2 shows the houses of Borgo Maranzanis, Municipality of Comeglians, in Italy, which is the rural hamlet where the term “Albergo Diffuso – AD” was born. The Friulian poet Leonardo Zanier (1935–2017) played a strategic role in facilitating its birth and described the preceding events as follows:

Figure 2.2: Houses at Borgo Maranzanis in Italy, the rural hamlet where the term AD was born (AD of Comeglians, UD, Italy).

The first project using the term “AD” dates back to the late 1970s in Carnia, a mountain area of the Friuli Venezia Giulia region, in the Eastern Alps. At that time, the depopulation of the area was reaching its height despite the enormous work of reconstructing farms and houses damaged by the 1976 earthquake. At that time, a group of young people living in Carnia who wished to stop this exodus decided to ignore the regional mentality of “you must do it by yourself” (in Friuli “si à di fâ di bessôi”). They asked for the collaboration of the Federal Polytechnic of Zurich – ETH which

26

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

allowed students in the last stages of their architecture studies to conduct a study seminar, assisted by Prof. Dolf Schnebli, on Maranzanis and Povolaro. These two localities in the municipality of Comeglians in the province of Udine were suffering the greatest demographic collapse, with the aim of finding proposals to relaunch them. The three objectives of the study were to enhance the existing building stock, to prevent its further deterioration and to ensure that the residents of the two inhabited centres become beneficiaries of new investments, both private and public. The results expected from the same study were ambitious: the guidelines for an initiative aimed at increasing tourist accommodation in the inhabited areas, creating support structures in neighbouring villages and relaunching productive activities. The ETH’s study containing the guidelines was translated into Italian with help from the Comunità Montana della Carnia (CMC), which distributed it to all the families in Comeglians, to the Mayors of the CMC and to the potentially interested Assessors of the province of Udine and the region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. A further, executive, study recognised the ETH guidelines and outlined two projects of AD for Maranzanis and Povolaro. That project was carried out by the Lega delle Cooperative and was implemented by the Destination Development Plan of the wider CMC area. In 1982, both the executive study and the destination projects plans were sent to the Cooperative Syndicate (COOPSIND) of Rome and to the European Community, both of which declared their interest in co-financing their implementation. Subsequently, the COOPSIND informed the Ministry of Labor which decided to facilitate the implementation of the two projects by financing two scholarships. The first scholarship, assigned to the sociologist Nereo Zamaro, had the purpose of studying the resources available. The second, assigned to the architecture student Carlo Toson, aimed to persuade the owners of real estate properties to entrust their management to an external company for tourist use. The Ministry of Labor entrusted COOPSIND with the planning of the two executive projects in collaboration with CMC and with the advice of ISFOL, the Ministry’s Training Agency. Zamaro made a series of documentaries on gastronomy, helped by advice from the prestigious Carnico chef Gianni Cosetti and ISFOL. Toson held a series of meetings with the owners of the relevant properties including the owners who had emigrated, to suggest that they renovate and refurbish their houses, or part of them, to create new tourist accommodation. The COOPSIND report to the Ministry of Labor on the research of Zamaro and Toson entitled “Progetto Comeglians” is the first document to contain the term AD. The two executive projects aimed to recover the buildings located in the villages of Maranzanis and Povolaro, in order to create a “Widespread Hotel” which is defined as “a receptive structure consisting of individual houses renovated and managed jointly for a new type of tourist accommodation”. The Municipality of Comeglians, including the two adjacent villages of Maranzanis and Povolaro, took part in the project together with of the nearby villages of Ovaro and Lauco. The “Comeglians Pilot-Project” started in 1983. Presented by COOPSIND and entirely financed by the European Community. It aimed to: conduct further studies of the resources available, involve the local population and prepare 40 young local residents for work in the tourism sector. These young residents were later sent to various European countries to study the methods and organisation of tourist accommodation. Some consultants and teachers were also hired. Among the consltants there were two pedagogists from Milan (Marco Todeschini and Guido Duiella), an animator-architect (Elena Beorchia) and an Engineer (Giovanni Valle). Among the teachers and consultants there was Giancarlo Dall’Ara.

2.3 The birth of the name “Albergo Diffuso”

27

During the development of the pilot project, its team hosted a delegation from the EEC that were involved in the implementation of local development programmes in marginal areas and was partnered with sixty local development projects in several European countries, four of them in Italy. The delegation met the promoters of the initiative, the population, the mayors, the regional councillors and the CMC, directly verified the use of the financial resources made available and decided to finance a further project aimed at making use of existing skills. Leonardo Zanier joined the national assessment group and the European coordination. It was at this time that we see the first use of the term AD, by the charismatic architect Pietro Gremese, who established an important collaboration with the Municipality of Sauris. Fifty beds were created in some disused rustic buildings that were renovated and became public property. Then, a new request for funding was presented (because the approval process of the new European funding programme was very slow) in order to keep the planning-group created by COOP and by real estate owners going. The amount requested was modest, the equivalent of €30 million, but was not approved. The project-team was then lost, and the COOP disbanded. The project was therefore suspended, but not abandoned. In 1997, the start-up of those projects was included in the new European rural development programme. The re-started project was entitled “Development by participation” and obtained additional funds. The Municipalities in which the new pilot projects were launched was now Comeglians and Resia (UD). Domenico Tranquilli and Verio Solari at IRES-FVG, together with Giovanna Unfer, Luciana Zanier and Stefania della Pietra were hired as consultants. Local depopulation had worsened in the meantime. The working group decided to use the results of previous studies and tried to restore the contacts created in the old “Pilot Project” between the institutions and the people who had emigrated from Friuli to other Italian regions or abroad. The first phase saw the beginning of planning for the recovery and renovation of buildings whose owners had declared themselves available, who were largely nonresidents and for a thorough analysis and design of the interventions needed, while waiting for the European 5B and Leader programme funds to be activated. The main priorities of the project remain the collaboration between the Municipalities and the owners of the buildings and the coordination of the interventions. Finally, the services that can respond to the expectations of potential tourists need to be designed. (Zanier 2012, E-mail sent to M. Droli)

Unfortunately, despite the extraordinary efforts made by the project team to supply something new, and the attractive potential demonstrated by the term AD, it was used to indicate a sum of houses, something generic and most importantly, not original. In the following years the AD in Friuli Venezia Giulia remained a fortunate but ambiguous definition (Toson and Toson, 2015). Although early projects that used the term included those at Comeglians by Toson (1982), and Sauris by Gremese (1982) and Clément (2008), the AD was ambiguously defined as a program of development and reconversion capable of regenerating a depressed territorial system consisting of a local community with its own history, cultural traditions and economic and political social relations, all in an environment partly natural and partly formed by man (Toson and Toson, 2015). The crisis experienced by some Alpine communities, engendered by large waves of emigration and two earthquakes were fundamental to discussions of a possible innovation, but they were not able to identify the innovation capable of

28

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

leading to a better future. In summary, the term AD was original and looked forward to a model of hospitality that was also original.

2.4 From the brand name to the hospitality model The words “diffuso” – suggesting a horizontal structure different from that of traditional hotels (Barbi 2007) – and “albergo” (hotel), which indicated that visitors will find normal hotel services, and the interactions between them, became the basis for the subsequent exploration of the key features of the AD as an original hospitality model. Thanks to a concept-testing phase carried out by Giancarlo Dall’Ara, the name AD generated its corresponding original hotelier hospitality model a few years later. Before 1982, Dall’Ara collaborated with the National League of Cooperatives as the former director of a consortium partnering with the organization. He came from Rimini and had experience with hotels and houses to rent in the tourism sector. That year, the Lega delle Cooperative introduced Dall’Ara to Coopsind, through whom he met the Friulian who inspired the idea; the poet Leonardo Zanier. Subsequently, Coopsind appointed Dall’Ara to assist the Comeglians Project as a teacher. As Dall’Ara would say, the name AD was original but it was applied to a network of houses which was not an original concept. Moreover, the problems and the questions posed during the lessons and the evening group sessions ignored the distinctive characteristics of this new product (Dall’Ara 2010, 23). Dall’Ara began to think about the need to create a hotelier hospitality model different from the previous ones in that while the first part of the term expressed the hotelier component, the second one was innovative, indicating its horizontal, invisible nature. The first document suggesting the early elements of an original hospitality model based on the name of AD dates from 1989 and is called the “Progetto di sviluppo turistico di San Leo” (translated in: “Project for the tourism development of the municipality of San Leo”) in the Emilia Romagna region (Dall’Ara 1989). Those targets included offering accommodation to people travelling across a rural area that did not yet have such services, along with promoting shorter stays by harnessing the development potential of inhabited, but historically valuable, buildings rather than by creating new ones (Dall’Ara 2015, 25). The agreement on the details of those targets by the several hamlets in the area allowed Dall’Ara to set up the early key elements of that hospitality model as follows: – a central management unit, that is, create a new business and/or improve the existing one, to run the marketing and management effectively – standard hotel services offering accommodation, breakfast and restaurant services normally supplied by a small hotel to its guests

2.4 From the brand name to the hospitality model

29

– an authentic environment where houses used should have enough spaces to also accommodate the residents, and the quantity and quality of the furniture and facilities should be consistent with the history and culture of the place – the presence of a small but inhabited and livable hamlet or historical center with a newsstand, pharmacy, grocery store, church, and other basic services necessary to allow its inhabitants to live there year-round In 1995, the implementation of the “Marghine Planargia Development” Plan in Sardinia (Dall’Ara 1995) offered him the opportunity to define the following new key elements of the concept: – not standardized management: Its management unit should be guided by adopting a modus operandi that is professional but not standardized or based on the conventional hotel. – the presence of common rooms: A reception, hall, bar, and refreshment area should be guaranteed to allow guests to mingle and to allow staff to manage the structure warmly and informally. – limit the maximum distance between the buildings and the common rooms. Being closer than 200 meters should allow guests to enjoy hotel services all year round and the staff to provide their assistance as needed. – management style particular to the territory: integrated with the social reality and the local culture. The definition of these key elements allowed Mr. Dall’Ara to offer both a broad sweep and a detailed perspective on the AD hotel hospitality model. In further detail, the AD concept was described as: [. . .] partly a house and partly a hotel, dedicated to those people who do not like hotel stays. Its main components are distributed between different buildings, all located in the same village/town. The term “diffuso” (here: spread, scattered) denotes a structure that is horizontal, and not vertical like traditional hotels, which often do not constitute a pleasant sight, reminding us of blocks of flats. ADs satisfy the tourists’ demand for stays in famous areas and towns, for contact with local residents rather than only with other tourists, and for the traditional comforts offered in hotels, such as room service or a restaurant. This form of hospitality has been shown to be a very efficient way of adding value to towns and villages that are artistically or architecturally peculiar and interesting; through ADs we can make old and dismissed buildings valuable and, at the same time avoid solving the problems of hospitality only by building new structures. (ADIe 2018e) [. . .] a group of dwellings embedded in two or more pre-existing buildings, located in inhabited rural hamlets, managing them in a unitary way by providing guests with hotel accommodation, catering, hospitality and assistance services. (Dall’Ara 2019, 2015, 2009, 2000, 1998, 1997, 1989; Dall’Ara and Marongiu 2003; Dall’Ara and Esposto 2005; Droli and Dall’Ara 2012, 42)

30

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

Based on Dall’Ara’s concept, and those of early scholars interested in that model, other suggested definitions and descriptions include the following: [. . .] An original model of hospitality characterised by its deep ties with the surrounding territory and local culture. In fact, both territory and culture are an integral part of the service offered.“ The AD is envisaged as a model of sustainable development, which seeks to recognise the value of local resources such as the cultural heritage, agriculture, handicrafts, and small businesses. Local traditions, history, and the social network are also factored into the model.” (Vallone and Veglio 2013, 22) [. . .] An attractive form of sustainable tourism for both present and future generations because it promotes heritage and is oriented to the recovery of a locality’s cultural identity and to the revival of traditional events. (Vallone and Veglio 2013, 23) [. . .] A key element of a tourist destination, that allows visitors to get to know local traditions and culture and, in a journey of “experiences”, to appreciate the area in the same way as its residents do. [. . .] Thus it offers also an element of competitiveness for the territory. (Romolini, Fissi and Gori 2017, 67) [. . .] A concept designed to connect small tourism providers in a specific small geographic area into a broader and more complete offer of tourist services. (Dragicevic and Letunic 2015, 438) [. . .] An accommodation model suited to less visible villages, assisting them in regenerating their tourism and cultural heritage and in developing a suitable offer for tourists. (Romolini, Fissi and Gori 2017, 67) [. . .] The hospitality model conceived for people interested in staying in an elegant urban environment together with its residents (instead of other tourists) and including regular hotel services such as room service or restaurant. (ADI 2018a)

Although different definitions of the AD hospitality model exist, none of them have so far considered the ethical and moral values of the people managing them. In 2012, a focus group-based analysis was undertaken in order to determine the main reasons why eight property owners started up their AD (Sheehan and Presenza 2012, 1893). Those reasons can be summarized as follows: – “passion and love for the place” – “interest in the history” – “re-valuation of the owner’s property that would otherwise be left abandoned” – “financial incentives from my region” – “the desire to contribute to the development of my community” A further definition of the AD based on those motivations might be expressed as follows: [. . .] the hotel hospitality model suitable for entrepreneurs who are “in love” with a specific place, interested in both its history and nature, moved by the desire to re-value a property that would otherwise be left abandoned. Such public interest, thus “lovable hotel”, can allow those entrepreneurs attracting both private and public investments and contribute to the development of a whole community.

2.5 Key numbers and laws

31

2.5 Key numbers and laws The AD was recognized formally for the first time in Italy by regional legislation in Sardinia passed in 1998 that officially recognized “Sas Benas” in the municipality of Santu Lussurgiu, Province of Oristano (OR). Soon after that came the ADs “Antica Dimora del Gruccione” and “Bosa” in Sardinia/Sauris and Comeglians in Friuli Venezia Giulia, as well as Trullidea in Alberobello in Apulia. Curiously, in the following years, other enterprises such as “Locanda Senio” (Province of Florence), which had been operating for years with all the key attributes required by the ADI of an AD, realized that this is what they had been all along. By 2011 the success of the initial entrepreneurs had led to the development of 35 other establishments in Italy, with others under development (Dichter and Dall’Ara 2008). In April 2013, the Alberghi Diffusi National Association (ADI) listed 58 different ADs operating across Italy (https://www.alberghidiffusi.it/?lang=en) from Venice in the north to Sicily in the south. Figure 2.3 illustrates the number of ADs by region in Italy. According to the ADI, the leading network for the sector, representing most of the 89 acknowledged ADs, in 2018 Sardinia had the largest number (12), followed by Lazio and Tuscany (9) and then Sicily (8). None were recognized in the Veneto and Valle d’Aosta regions. 0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Sardinia Lazio Tuscany Sicily Umbria Emilia-Romagna Lombardy Marche Molise Apulia Friuli Venezia Giulia Basilicata Campania Liguria Abuzzo Calabria Piedimont Trentino Alto Adige Veneto Valle d'Aosta Figure 2.3: ADs number by region in Italy. Source: ADI, November 2018. “Albergo Diffuso DOC.” Own elaboration.

14

32

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

ADs represent part of a rural hamlet and a wider rural area providing tourism services such as cultural and trekking excursions, horseback riding and so on. The average area covered by the buildings, houses and rooms that hosts tourists is 814 m2, with the smallest structures covering 200 m2 and the largest ten times that, at 2,000 m2. According to a nationwide survey (Romolini, Fissi and Gori 2017, 69), ADs are small-to-medium structures with an average of 53.4 beds, well below the Italian average for hotels of 67.3 beds (Federalberghi 2016, 26). There is a wider range of sizes in ADs than in conventional hotels: some of them have less than 20 beds (the smallest has 12), while others have more than 100 (the largest has 150). Such great heterogeneity in the number of rooms and the area covered indicates the flexibility of this hospitality model and the potential for adapting it to different local conditions, depending on the resources available. An average of 8 years are required to restructure the buildings adopted by an AD (Romolini, Fissi and Gori 2017, 69). Most of the buildings with AD rooms are owned by the building management and only a minority are rented (Vallone and Veglio 2013, 71). Table 2.3 illustrates early regulations for ADs. As shown in the Table, all regions and provinces now have their own laws regarding ADs. In Italy, there is no unique national legislation on tourism, so there is a great variety in regional economic structures and the strategic targets to be achieved. Tourism is a regional competency, and each regional government has the power to independently legislate the forms of tourism to be improved, according to the reform of Title V of the Italian Constitution, Law No. 3 of 2001 (Franceschelli 2008). Thus, key features of the AD as a hospitality model have been adopted by different regions at different times and with different degrees of consistency relative to the original formulations suggested by Dall’Ara and the ADI. Table 2.3: AD early regulations (all titles refer to regions unless otherwise stated).

Region

Regional Law (L.R.) Number and Title

Sardinia

Regional law (Legge Regionale, L.R.) .., no. , “Disciplina delle strutture ricettive extra alberghiere, integrazioni e modifiche alla legge regionale .., no. ”

Friuli Venezia Giulia

L.R. .., no. , “Disciplina organica del turismo”

Campania

Decreto Regionale no.  del ... L.R. no.  del ..

Marche

L.R. .., no. , “Testo unico delle norme regionali in materia di turismo”

Umbria

L.R. .., no. , “Legislazione turistica regionale”

2.5 Key numbers and laws

33

Table 2.3 (continued )

Region

Regional Law (L.R.) Number and Title

Liguria

L.R. .., no. , “Disciplina degli itinerari dei gusti e dei profumi di Liguria, delle enoteche regionali, nonché interventi a favore della ricettività diffusa”

Emilia Romagna

Delibera di Giunta no.  dd. ..; estratto da “Specificazioni tipologiche” prot. no.TUR//

Autonomous Province of Legge Provinciale (L.P.) .., no. , “Modificazioni delle leggi Trento provinciali” .. Calabria

L.R. .., no. , “Riordino dell’organizzazione turistica regionale”

Basilicata

L.R. .., no. , “Disciplina della classificazione delle strutture ricettive e di ospitalità della Regione Basilicata in tema di ospitalità diffusa”

Tuscany

L.R. no. /, “Disciplina dell’attività ricettiva di albergo diffuso”

Lazio

L.R. .., no. , “Organizzazione del sistema turistico laziale. Modifiche alla legge regionale  agosto , no. ”

Molise

L.R. .., no. , “Incentivi a favore dei piccoli Comuni molisani atti a contrastarne lo spopolamento ed a favorirne la ripopolazione”

Lombardy

L.R. .., no. , “Istituzione dell’Albergo Diffuso, Baita Diffusa e Baita&Breakfast”

Valle d’Aosta

L.R. . no. , “Disposizioni in materia turistica ed urbanistica. Modificazioni di leggi regionali”

Apulia

L.R. .., no., “Istituzione e disposizioni normative dell’attività ricettiva di albergo diffuso”.

Veneto

L.R. .. no. , “Sviluppo e sostenibilità del turismo veneto”

Sicily

L.R. .., no. , “Norme per il riconoscimento dell’albergo diffuso in Sicilia”

Abruzzo

L.R. .., no. , “Recupero e restauro dei borghi antichi e centri storici minori nella Regione Abruzzo attraverso la valorizzazione del modello abruzzese di ospitalità diffusa. Disciplina dell’albergo diffuso”

Piedimont

L.R. .., no. , “Disposizioni collegate alla manovra finanziaria per l’anno ”

Molise

L.R. .., no. , “Istituzione e disciplina dell’attività ricettiva dell’albergo diffuso”

34

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

Table 2.3 (continued )

Region

Regional Law (L.R.) Number and Title

Autonomous Province of L.P. .., no. , “Modifiche di leggi provinciali in materia di Bolzano ordinamento degli uffici e personale, istruzione, formazione professionale, sport, cultura, enti locali, servizi pubblici, tutela del paesaggio e dell’ambiente, energia, utilizzazione di acque pubbliche, caccia e pesca, protezione antincendi e civile, urbaniztica, igiene e sanità, politiche sociali, famiglia, edilizia scolastica, trasporti, edilizia abitativa agevolata, lavoro, economia, cave e torbiere, entrate, commercio, turismo e industria alberghiera, rifugi alpini, artigianato, finanze e ricerca.”

To date, all the Italian regions have approved laws on the AD (Dall’Ara 2015): Sardinia was the first and Trentino Alto Adige was the last, with a law relating to the Province of Bozen-Bolzano in July 2018. Some regions have also adopted a specific regulation to support the implementation of the regional law on ADs. It is evident that the contents of laws and regulations can enhance or hinder the degree to which the ADs developed follow the original hospitality model efficiently; provide efficient hotel services equitably, i.e., involving the local community; and preserve local resources, making them ecologically and economically sustainable (Droli and Dall’Ara 2012, 106–110). In Italy – with strong territorial variations between its center, north and south – it makes sense for tourism-related laws to by issued by the individual regions and the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano. New ADs are also being created in other countries where the opportunity to renovate old historic city center buildings exists, such as in Croatia (e.g., Polač, Ravni Kotar), Spain (Ledesma, Salamanca), and Japan (Yakage-ya, Okayama). In other countries new projects are currently underway. Despite what was expected by some scholars (Paniccia and Valeri 2010), it is unlikely that new ADs can be established in abandoned rural hamlets, because they lack the key role played by the interactions created by guests and the local community (Dall’Ara 2015; Droli and Dall’Ara 2012).

2.6 The services offered An AD offers both hotel-type services, provided by its staff (directly), and non-hotel -type services through suppliers acting outside particular boundaries (indirectly). Conventional hotel services are often supplied directly and include: – accommodation

2.6 The services offered

– – – – – –

35

breakfast catering with or without room service linen supply minimum cleaning (once a week) assistance and information 24 hours a day availability during the day and/or exceptional night situations

According to Romolini, Fissi and Gori (2017, 69), other services and activities supplied directly, but not necessarily embedded in the AD hospitality model, include: – internet connection – TV in the rooms – a parking area – shared rooms for recreational and cultural use – shops selling local produce, local crafts and traditions – gardens – parks – wedding and event planning – library – swimming pool – transportation services – food and wine tours – hiking – excursions to local places of interest – cookery lessons – cycling tours, etc. In 2017, 90% of ADs were offering their guests an internet connection; 80% had a TV in rooms/flats/suites; 40% offered wedding and event planning; 30% had a library; 50% had restaurant services (directly), shared spaces for recreational and cultural purposes, a shop selling local produce and car parking; and 20% had a swimming pool and shuttle service (Romolini, Fissi and Gori 2017, 71). As previously mentioned, “ADs offer wide spectra of activities going beyond firm organisation boundaries including tour guiding, visiting of local museums and collections, bike rental, horse riding and other services that promote employment and selfemployment and influence the agricultural household income.” (Dragicevic and Letunic 2015, 438). As one may note, the success of the AD depends on the manager’s ability to customize services offered to their guests in real time, to residents interested in rediscovering the place in which they live, to daily visitors and to people visiting for business.

36

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

2.7 Thematic specializations High quality accommodations are essential for any hotel trying to improve its revenue per available room (RevPAR). Consistently, most of the regional laws which recognize the AD oblige its managers to offer the above-mentioned hotel services. However, the same laws often do not oblige managers to offer territorial services that are essential for the purpose of increasing the gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR), following Droli and Dall’Ara (2012). The guests at an AD expect to interact with both the people living in the territory in which it operates and local resources. Therefore, if the management seeks to facilitate these interactions to increase its GOPPAR, it should be obliged to offer a range of territorial services allowing guests to recognize the value and uniqueness of the territory in which they are living. This additional characteristic plays a vital role in improving guest satisfaction, increasing cash flow, facilitating competitive survival and assuring the competitive development of the proposal. This element, therefore, should be regarded as a key part of the AD hospitality model. Working in this direction, over the last thirty years most AD managers have started to diversify the hotel and territorial services they offer. Managers who had previously run famous restaurants started offering their guests and their children Italian lessons, as well as local and creative cooking classes. Others who had been artists, architects or musicians focused on the intimate union between local history, gastronomy, visual arts and music. Thus they started offering their guests museums of musical instruments, classes in painting or music and targeted events. Other managers who have won national and/or international sports championships have offered unique value-adding services. One example is well-known cyclists who offered bike repair workshop facilities, pre- and post-race menus and master-classes on time-trial cycling techniques. So the personal experiences of AD owners and managers have led them to specialize their offers in a range of directions, including the following: – gastronomy – arts – sporting activities – wellness – shopping – meetings – weddings The rising numbers of ADs, particularly in Italy and especially in the last decade, have resulted in competition that has led to an increasing rate of specialization in the products and services offered in both final and intermediate markets.

2.8 Purposes

37

2.8 Purposes The general purposes of an AD (Dall’Ara 2015, 39; Droli and Dall’Ara 2012; 106–109) include the following: – to improve the visibility of rural hamlets and semi-abandoned historical centers in the crowded, competitive tourism market while improving the productivity of (often reduced) marketing budgets (marketing effectiveness) – to increase incomes obtained by homeowners while creating a centralized management unit (management efficiency) – to augment incomes obtained by value-adding local capabilities such as agribusinesses, craftsman, organizations managing historical and natural resources, and those structures, infrastructures and other productive factors that characterize the local area while satisfying leisure and business travellers, daily visitors, residents and emigrants visiting their hometowns, etc. (equity) – preserving natural resources and productive factors whose potential has been harnessed by the AD (ecological sustainability) Table 2.4 shows the specific purposes of that innovation and the indications that they are being achieved. This subdivision allows interested parties to deal with them more productively by setting up targeted classes, setting-up improvement initiatives. The same partition allows management to set up targeted interdisciplinary initiatives. Table 2.4: Alberghi diffusis’ specific purposes and related proxies. Target

Indications of achievement

Effectiveness of marketing and sale Number of media reports published for free on the AD by initiatives press, radio and TV Commercial value of those reports Return on public relations Efficiency of the management unit

Incomes: requests for information and bookings stimulated by the reports and by the innovation. Sales of accommodation and restaurant services. Revenue per available room (RevPAR) Savings: reduction of costs for the furnishing of buildings, the management of cleaning and maintenance services (CostPAR), public funding obtained for start-ups, etc.

Equity of community involvement and risk/rewards ratio

Sales of ancillary services offered by tourist guides, sports instructors and other people and organizations partnering with the AD. Gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR)

Ecologic sustainability

Savings in the use of water and electricity. Money donated by guests for the maintenance of paths, environmental recovery projects, etc.

Source: adapted from Droli and Dall’Ara 2012, 106–108.

38

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

2.9 Promotion and sales Given the wide variation in prices charged and the specialization strategies followed by AD managements, it is not surprising that promotion and sales initiatives also vary widely. Some of the general rules common to most ADs trying to increase their visibility in the market without trivializing their hospitality model are as follows: – promoting the value of being free while being served by a small hotel. Many people have never heard the term AD. Others who have heard about it often do not know how it differs from a conventional hotel, and the AD needs to help guests avoid confusing the two. The ADs explain very early on why they allow their guests to enjoy the sense of freedom while being provided with the services also offered by a conventional hotel. – rarity. Most of the customers of an AD live in highly urbanized areas. For these people, the local way of life of a rural hamlet or a small historical center is one of its most attractive resources. Therefore, an AD’s advance publicity needs to promote the local lifestyle in connection with the rooms and local dishes offered. Promoting the people and the histories connecting them to the place helps those who do not know the AD to anticipate enjoying a place far away from home. This may also create the curiosity that can play a strategic role in persuading potential guests to “disconnect” from their ordinary way of life and come along to experience another one. – promote uniqueness, starting with the houses. The conventional view is that standardization is required, but uniqueness, its opposite, is valuable and valueadding. Highlighting the history of the houses and their owners, those typical or unusual construction details, and explaining the materials used, allows guests to feel they will take part in something unique, unlike what happens in a conventional hotel room. Uniqueness does not guarantee guests consistent levels of quality of service but it is perceived as part of a highly valuable experience. Internet websites and printed promotional materials flatten and homogenize any tourism product. By helping guests to recognize its unique features, the AD gives depth to promotional efforts and reduces the flattening of arrivals. – using numbers wherever possible. On the one hand, travellers navigating the internet have limited time to seek out specific information. On the other, tourism entrepreneurs and decision makers tend to use qualitative rather than quantitative information to communicate the value, rarity, and uniqueness of their offer. In the post-industrial era, managers who are squeezed for time must communicate their strengths to the market very quickly. This is especially true in communicating the uniqueness of tourism resources indispensable for cycling, climbing, rafting and other sports activities requiring technical descriptions (e.g., slope), and whose performance indicators could be quantitatively measured precisely. – communicating distances by using hours of travel instead of kilometers. ADs often use maps to express distances from nearby tollbooths or from the nearest

2.10 Conventional analysis of the hospitality model

39

cities by car, train or plane. But the most scarce resource is time, not gasoline. Travellers to rural areas need to understand immediately how much time their journey will take: for example, “2 hours away from place x’ is more useful than ‘200 km away.” In this way, they can find something unique every weekend.

2.10 Conventional analysis of the hospitality model In the following section, the hospitality model will be described using the wellestablished SWOT framework: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (Porter 1980, 1985; Hofer and Schendel 1978; Stinchcombe 1965; Penrose 1959), along with additional analyzes by scholars.

2.10.1 Strengths According to Dall’Ara (2015, 27–28), “the strengths of an AD include its ability to meet the needs of expert travelers, its respect for the cultural environment, and the authenticity of the accommodation it offers.” The AD model allows the rural hamlet or rural area to become a “hotel” with its own reception, offering overnight accommodation, developing gastronomic services, activities, tours, the opportunity to purchase “Km 0” food products, riding, visits, rentals and other services (Droli and Dall’Ara 2012; Droli 2013b). Viewed as an organization, the AD can be depicted as both a community-based hotel and a self-organized and community-based tour-operator. According to Dichter and Dall’Ara (2008, 5), the advantages of the AD model over traditional types of hospitality may be listed as follows: – It generates a high-quality tourist product that reflects the local area without generating negative environmental impacts (nothing new has to be built, existing houses are restored and a hospitality network is created). – It helps to develop and network the local supply of tourist activities. – It increases sustainable tourism development in remote and off-the-beatentrack areas, in villages and hamlets and historical centers, increasing supply in the tourist market. – It contributes to preventing the abandonment of the historical centers. According to various authors, the AD can bring advantages to various organizations, including the following: – competitive advantages of small tourist businesses: Dall’Ara 2009 – sustainable development of agritourism enterprises: Dragicevic and Stjiepo 2015; Valeri 2010 – cultural tourism destinations: Mandelli and La Rocca 2008, 2006; Silvestrelli 2011, Tagliabue, Leonforte and Compostella 2012

40

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

– tourist development of rural hamlets: Dall’Ara 2009, Paniccia, Pechlaner and Valeri 2007; De Montis et al. 2014; Pepe et al. 2013 – interactions between enterprises and their local territory: Fissi, Gori and Romolini, 2014 – innovation: Paniccia 2012 – building stock and infrastructure of rural hamlets: Bresciani and Droli 2013 – co-management of tourism destinations; Paniccia, Minguzzi and Valeri 2011 – processes of knowledge acquisition: Paniccia 2010; Paniccia, Pechlaner and Valeri 2010; 2007a, 2007b; Paniccia, Silvestrelli and Valeri 2010; Paniccia and Valeri 2010 – guest-satisfaction: Vallone and Veglio 2013 – economic and environmental sustainability of tourism destinations: Dropulič, Krajnovič and Ruzič 2008; Paniccia, Silvestrelli and Valeri 2013; Montella and Quattrociocchi 2013; Vallone, Orlandini and Cecchetti 2013 Guests, local entrepreneurs, residents and others can benefit from the AD, taking advantage of what it offers, or even take advantage of the opportunities afforded by setting up an AD. Some of the benefits available to guests are: – enjoy the space and privacy that only an entire house can give – living for a time in a rural village or a small historic center, benefiting from human relationships created with residents – being able to behave like a resident among the residents without giving up the comforts of a small hotel – not contributing to the “cementification” of the environment – improving one’s ability to adapt, to live together, to share responsibility for the environment – identifying similarities and differences between the culture around the AD and one’s place of origin Entrepreneurs who decide to set up an AD can also experience the following advantages: – greater visibility for their business at both national and international levels – providing accommodation in a village or in a historic center that would otherwise be deprived of it – access to a demanding and curious clientele, experienced tourists, etc. Additional advantages for residents include: – a greater sense of belonging to one’s own community – the utility of connecting to the dynamics of the tourism business – overcoming some of one’s sense of inferiority towards the inhabitants of urban centers

2.10 Conventional analysis of the hospitality model

41

Vallone and Veglio (2013) suggest that ADs encourage interactions between tourists and the local community, which helps to enhance flexibility and variety in the supply of services offered to the AD’s guests, including, especially, making it possible for guests to ask for personalized options. At the European level, Dropulić, Krajnovič and Ruzič (2008) have argued that the AD represents a reasonable solution for the sustainable growth of tourism, while Silvestrelli (2011) has shown that the enhancement of a historic village through the setting up of an AD improves the competitiveness of its geographical area, thus generating value and sustainability for all stakeholders. The AD has also been linked to the emergence of business innovation in the field of tourism and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and also to a revitalized economy for small villages (Droli and Dall’Ara 2012; Paniccia 2012, Montella and Quattrociocchi 2013; Piersanti 2013). Given all this, it is clear that the AD can contribute to the achievement at the local level of several sustainable development goals (SDGs) established by the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Table 2.5 suggests the targets that can be most easily achieved through the contribution of a properly established AD.

Table 2.5: SDGs and potential contribution of the AD to their achievement. SDG

AD’s contribution

. No poverty

Attenuating poverty by creating income opportunities within the local community

. Zero hunger

Ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture by generating job opportunities

. Good health and well-being Ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all by interacting with local hospitals and gathering additional funds for them . Quality education

Ensuring inclusive education, improving its quality and promoting lifelong learning through participation in seminars, pre- and postuniversity classes, educational tours and other training initiatives established in the tourism industry and by constant innovation

. Gender equality

Improving gender equality by involving everyone in sharing the benefits offered and sharing the responsibility for marketing their communities, managing the services offered, facilitating the establishment of interactions and partnerships within their own community and nearby communities, and preserving resources

42

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

Table 2.5 (continued ) SDG

AD’s contribution

. Decent work and economic growth

Promoting inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for the local community by setting up a community-based hospitality model

. Equality

Reduction of inequalities within and among countries by activating bottom-up learning processes and sharing best practices

. Responsible consumption and production

Ensuring sustainable consumption and improving traditional production patterns by enabling guests to eat locally grown foods

. Life on land

Establishing opportunities to make revenue from the sustainable management of forests, reversing land degradation and halting biodiversity loss, promoting cash flow opportunities within local communities and involving those communities in sustainable resource administration

. Peace, justice and strong institutions

Promoting inclusive societies, building up effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels by increasing transparency in the management of public and – especially – private investments

. Partnerships

Revitalizing the global partnership for sustainable development and improving the productivity of public-private partnerships by adopting ad-hoc community-based approaches

Source: Present author’s elaboration on United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

Within the context of sustainable tourism, the adjective “diffuso” (spread out) suggests a horizontal structure different from that of traditional hotels (Barbi 2007). As previously noted “ . . . the AD’s strengths include its ability to serve as a sustainable development strategy since it focuses on economic prosperity, social cohesion, job generation and other community-related issues” (Vallone, Orlandini and Cecchetti 2013, 22; Tagliabue, Leonforte and Compostella 2012; 1061). Pellizzoni and Osti (2003) suggest that ADs can promote the economic development of small towns, and aim to increase local employment, without harming the environment or contaminating local culture or identity. The kind of advantages obtainable by establishing an AD are well understood, although their practical implementation varies in space and time according to the management’s ability to capitalize on them throughout the AD’s lifecycle. Sheehan and Presenza (2012) also highlight other advantages of the AD that fit well with the goal of sustainability. These benefits include the preservation of local buildings and building traditions, the recovery of abandoned local buildings, the use of local building skills and companies, the understanding of culture and local traditions, and new investments in the territory with both local and

2.10 Conventional analysis of the hospitality model

43

non-local funding sources. By exploiting pre-existing buildings, an AD respects the environment and tends to preserve the cultural identity of tourist destinations. Furthermore, by packaging resources to represent the whole territory in which it operates, it involves the capabilities of its employees and the locals . According to Romolini, Fissi and Gori (2017, 69), 72% of ADs minimize save electricity by using energy-efficient appliances; 50% try to reduce their waste production and 40% use recycled raw materials; 38% use renewable energy sources, especially photovoltaic systems, and 22% collect rainwater. Nevertheless, 65% of ADs do not adopt sustainability protocols such as certification or use quality branding. Thus there is a need to improve sustainability policies, communicate sustainable management performance even more productively and increase the spread of renewable energy by setting up ad-hoc projects. Regarding the key architectural features of AD tourist accommodation, there are a few cases of iron beams, windows with mirrored glass, bright blue façades and other elements that have nothing to do with the tradition of the place. In order to effect coherent architecture, all elements of the buildings should be consistent with the construction methods and traditional materials used in the past. Only renovations reusing often abandoned techniques and materials can create new landscapes that are still valuable in terms of both local identity and sustainable tourism (Torreggiani and Tassinari 2012).

2.10.2 Weaknesses Some key characteristics of the AD hospitality model make its management more expensive than that of a traditional hotel (Droli 2007a; Dall’Ara and Esposto 2005). For example, an AD provides rooms with a bathroom, kitchen, living room and other rooms, allowing guests to live in a rural hamlet as “almost residents” (Dall’Ara 2015). This distinguishes it from a conventional hotel, which usually offers just a room and a bathroom. The larger surface area and number of rooms in an AD mean higher costs for heating in the winter, air conditioning in the summer, electricity and other services. In addition, going between two or more buildings increases cleaning times compared to looking after rooms in the same building. Often, houses hosting guests were built using ancient construction methods, and respecting those traditions increases the cost of alterations and maintenance. In brief, each of those organizational disadvantages generates “diseconomies” involving the loss of time and money (Dall’Ara 2015, Droli 2012). The management of an AD – given the same number of rooms, similar quality level, and operating in the same area – tends to cost more than that of a conventional hotel. Table 2.6 compares the main economic and organizational diseconomies in a conventional hotel to an AD.

44

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

2.10.3 Opportunities This hotel hospitality model generates a range of opportunities that potential partners can seize and manage (Dall’Ara 2015; Droli and Dall’Ara 2012). Some of them concern the guests’ potential evaluations of the village which can become: – a tourist retreat in which to feel “at home” – a bundle of real estate investment opportunities – an area in which to run a new business and/or convert one’s own activity – a place in which to invest that helps family members, relatives and friends – a place to retire and improve one’s quality of life without upsetting loved ones and without living too far from hospitals, airports and other essential services The management of an AD offers entrepreneurs opportunities such as the following: – to generate innovations not only in accommodation services but also in providing food, agricultural products, beverages, craftsmen’s services, transport, etc. – participating in business sales networks and strategic partnerships – creating a local identity attractive to both locals and the tourism market – increasing the visibility of their own corporate identity, etc. Opportunities available to residents include: – participation open to everyone, from children to the elderly – relaunching real estate assets and local cultures defined until recently as marginal in small demographically imbalanced communities – improvements in infrastructure, facilities, equipment and services, tourist organizations and initiatives, events, skilled workers, etc. – by so doing, recovering much of the locality’s artistic and cultural heritage Further opportunities can be captured by public decision makers and not-for-profit organizations (NPOs), including: – facilitating bottom-up tourism development processes – increasing their own personal visibility by taking advantage of one or more opportunities – obtaining additional funding for the AD and/or for launching collateral projects – improving the quality of life for people travelling for leisure or work, daily visitors, second homeowners, residents, migrants returning to their birthplace and families, etc. The term AD itself brings several opportunities for incomes, investments, jobs and finance. Regarding income opportunities, “diffusi” – “scattered” – represents the promise made by the hotel to the market that its management is organizing not only rooms, food and drinks, but also preparing the necessary services to live in the identity of the territory. Unfortunately, not all ADs partner with nearby restaurants or

2.10 Conventional analysis of the hospitality model

45

Table 2.6: Comparison of conventional hotel and AD: main economic and organizational diseconomies. Cost Centers

Observation level

Conventional Hotel

AD

Rooms

Number of buildings in which they are located

Generally one

More than one

Architectural style of the building

Chosen by the property’s management

Chosen by local history

Construction materials, techniques and furniture

Co not always reflect the culture of the place

Linked to the culture of the place, typical and difficult to standardize

Planned Projects usually concentrated maintenance of in one building buildings and special Maintenance costs can be repairs greatly influenced by the choices of owners and managers

Building projects concentrated in a minimum of two buildings Costs are strongly influenced by the types of original materials and local building techniques

Completion times of repair and maintenance jobs highly predictable, reduced uncertainty margins

Completion times of repair and maintenance jobs less predictable, high uncertainty margins due to the age of the building materials

Furniture and furnishings

Furniture and furnishings typical or modern depending on the choices made by the owner/manager

Furniture and furnishings consistent with the age of the building, its historical style and its previous residential usage, etc.

Domestic utilities (heating costs, electricity, water consumption, etc.)

Relating to the production unit, the room

Relating to the production unit, the home or apartment

Limited to rooms and any appurtenances (suites)

Extended to rooms, kitchen, living room, gardens, etc.

Internal Room cleaning, operations catering, guest assistance, etc.

public decision makers to develop new dishes, legally defend local recipes, organize innovative sports or plan cultural excursions. When this occurs, income opportunities for local communities emerge.

46

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

Investment opportunities also arise. Ruda (1998) argues that the development of rural areas is sustainable when the recovery of rural houses is based on sound architectural principles and traditional models. Indeed, the demand for tourism accommodation that respects the environment and operates in harmony with the local community has been growing since the 1990s. This trend creates opportunities for investment and innovation in sustainable business in rural areas that are often relatively neglected by both private and public investors (Droli 2013a, 2013b; Paniccia 2012; Montella and Quattrociocchi 2013; Piersanti 2013). Generating job opportunities and facing youth drain is extremely important in rural areas, especially the less populated rural ones. Some ADs can satisfy the needs, expectations and requests of local residents, daily visitors, business travelers and tourists. They can function as means of achieving both private and public objectives, for instance by improving revenue per available room (RevPAR) and gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR) and by enhancing zero kilometer (Km 0) job opportunities (Droli 2013b). When this occurs, the AD can aid economic prosperity, renovate privately owned properties, revitalize rural hamlets and improve the quality of life in local communities. Financial opportunities can arise through European Union (EU) funding, for instance. Romolini, Fissi and Gori (2017) write that the EU funds business development in the rural tourism industry, in particular, in order to leverage local traditions, preserve heritage, tackle youth drain and revitalize the rural economy while respecting the environment. The AD can also become eco-friendly and respectful of an area’s history, preventing the abandonment of places rich in history and art. It also promotes the economic development of small towns and aims to increase local employment without impacting negatively on the environment or contaminating local culture or identity (Pellizzoni and Osti 2003). When the AD provides visitors with valuable tourism experiences and minimizes environmental degradation, it can be used as a sustainable development strategy (Vignali 2010; Throsby 2003). The AD hospitality model can act as an example and may generate innovation opportunities for the entire tourism industry. Furthermore, the model’s distinctive features enable it to establish itself on the tourist market as a competitive player while at the same time promoting sustainable economic development in its territory (Vallone and Veglio 2013). Enacting such processes requires perceiving the value of local resources for the global tourism market (Droli and Dall’Ara 2012) as a means of enhancing the landscape and reducing adverse effects in the community, and thus promoting sustainable economic development (Vallone and Veglio 2013). It is clear that the range of opportunities generated by an AD is wide and various, but they all have common characteristics that very often make them quite attractive to all different categories of visitors.

2.10 Conventional analysis of the hospitality model

47

2.10.4 Threats Threats were not considered an issue until 2010 (Dall’Ara 2015, 27–29), probably due to the abundance of opportunities waiting to be assessed. A first threat is that the rules regulating the AD favor the interests of the inhabitants far more than those of the guests. In some regions, the law requires that ADs comply with all the essential quality requirements established by Mr Dall’Ara. For instance, some require management units to adopt houses within 200 meters of each other and the reception. In other regions, however, where an enormous number of empty houses are available, managers are allowed to use houses as far as 6–10 km away. This leads to longer travel times for guests, greater difficulty in selling rooms during rainy or snowy periods, and thus avoidable diseconomies. Table 2.7 shows avoidable diseconomies when establishing an AD. Only some regions meet all the requirements of the hospitality model, i.e., they make public funds available for the recovery of existing buildings, thus avoiding such diseconomies. Thus it is necessary to support the operators in the sector by constantly improving existing rules.

Table 2.7: Avoidable diseconomies in establishing an AD. Key feature of the hospitality model

Avoidable diseconomy when not recognized

The hotelier status of the hospitality model

general consistency with respect to its name

Reception located in the center of the rural village

possibility of accessing meeting places, interacting with residents, withdrawing money at an ATM, buying groceries, newspapers and other services or products essential for living the village as a “semi-resident”

Houses and reception areas located within a radius of – meters

reception accessible on foot, can reach other guests with little effort, use spaces and common services without using the car, etc.

Presence/absence of quality classification system

possibility of selling the product by involving agencies, tour operators and other tourism trade intermediaries from outside

Exceptions to regional and municipal regulatory plans

possibility of using rooms, kitchens and dining rooms for hotel use without changing their surface, their height, the surface of the windows, etc., the buildings’ interiors often having historical value

Public funds available to refurbish buildings needed

possibility of reducing the cost of the initial investments

48

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

One possible threat is competition between ADs and other accommodations in the same hamlet or historical center, which can cause the AD’s management to reduce prices in order to maintain its occupation rates and cash flows. The restoration of pre-existing houses requires that ADs protect the building traditions of the place. The creation of a tourism offer going beyond the boundaries of the company involves additional efforts by the management to interact with other firms, the public and not-for-profit organizations. Establishing these and other activities create added costs for the AD and raise its break-even point. To deal with this threat, the AD management must be capable of continually innovating its products, creating added value, emphasizing their rarity among competitors and defending their innovations against attempts by competitors to imitate them. Another possible threat occurs if devoting a territory to tourism would imply severely exploiting resources and the eco-system (Piersanti 2013; Rispoli and Tamma 1995). On the one hand, many scholars point to the positive relationship between small tourism enterprises and sustainable tourism objectives (Horobin and Long 1996; Berry and Ladkin 1997; Revell and Rutherfoord 2003; Vernon et al. 2003). Others, however, including Symko and Harris (2002), have shown that they are not always directly related. Creating an AD does not require new building, but running its activities can have a negative impact on resources that are valuable and rare for residents, such as tranquility, peace and silence at night. Last but not least, the average level of customer satisfaction achieved by an AD greatly depends on the interactions between guests and local history scholars, sports instructors, farmers and other independent suppliers. More generally, the productivity of the AD’s management depends on its ability to partner effectively with other businesses, public decision makers and non-profit organizations (Droli 2007b). At the public level, this complexity is often managed through laws recognizing and regulating the activity of an AD: this is a necessary condition but not a sufficient one. At an AD, guests use the narrow lanes of the rural hamlet to get to the front desk: they play the same role as the corridors in a conventional hotel (Dall’Ara 2015, 27). The safety and cleanliness of those narrow roads, therefore, greatly influences the guests’ satisfaction with the whole experience, even though they are not the responsibility of the AD’s management. Other threats are represented by the damage potentially caused to the image of certified ADs by other firms using the name AD without meeting the required quality standards.

2.11 Potential impact Early studies aimed at tracking the impacts produced by ADs were carried out in the 2000s and include Piani (2004) and Droli (2008).

2.11 Potential impact

49

The approaches available to track impacts expected and achieved by an AD can be subdivided into three types: general-holistic, atomistic and dynamic-relational approaches.

2.11.1 The general-holistic approach There has been little effort to develop metrics to systematically track results achieved by an AD in the last decade. Roberts and Tribe (2008) suggest a set of sustainability indicators useful for tracking the evolution of the smallest sustainable tourism enterprises, which they call “micro-organizations.” These indicators can be grouped as follows: – economic sustainability indicators – environmental sustainability indicators – socio-cultural sustainability indicators Uysal, Sirgy, Woo and Kim (2016) reviewed several studies that identified the main impacts of tourism by observing its cultural, socio-economic, physical and environmental aspects. Similarly, Granata and Scavone (2016, 354) identified economic, social, cultural and physical criteria by which to analyze data obtained about small tourist firms and thus an AD. These criteria include the following: – Social Local identity Social cohesion, resulting from employment opportunities for residents, opportunities for private enterprises and increased income for local business owners Reduction of depopulation – Cultural Valorization of the production and handicrafts of the traditional local economy, agriculture and sheep farming Creation of a tourist culture from the interaction of hosts and guests: involvement of population and integration of visitors Preservation of the traditional urban landscape – Economic Additional incomes and real estate appreciation generated by the AD – Physical Reuse of abandoned buildings Supply of residential facilities Flexibility in the use of buildings These indicators tend to produce information that is often used in public decision-making processes. However, given the complexity of an AD compared to a small conventional hotel, this information is often useless for marketing and management purposes.

50

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

2.11.2 The atomistic approach This approach often considers the multifaceted ways in which the quality of life of the local population influences the decision to make a trip, the choice of destination and the quality of the holiday experience, according to Wise (2016); Zehrer and Hallmann (2015); Shan and Pizam (2012); Yu, Chancellor and Cole (2011); Jang et al. (2009), Jurowski and Brown (2001); and Perdue, Long and Allen (1990). By adopting an atomistic approach, Granata and Scavone (2017) have suggested a multi-criteria evaluation framework which can be adopted for the purpose of rehabilitating historic town centers by improving sustainable tourism development processes. Table 2.8 shows the main consequences of potential actions in a tourism development process known as the “decision problem.” Table 2.8: Main consequences of potential actions in a tourism development process. – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Increased gentrification, with the risk of displacing local residents from the old town center Involvement of the local population in the tourist business Integration of visitors in the local culture and social situation Improvement in residential facilities Creation of a tourism culture from the interaction of hosts and guests Income generation Real estate appreciation Conservation of the fabric of the town and historical buildings Flexibility in the use of buildings to prepare for the possibility of the tourist supply drying up exhaustion of the tourist phenomenon Creation of employment opportunities for residents through the local tourism industry Increased social cohesion through the filtering down of profits to the local population Creation of opportunities for private enterprise in supplying transportation, retail goods, sporting activities and other services Valorization of local agricultural products and sheep farming, upon which the current economy is based Increased income for local business owners Over-use of land Preserving indigenous populations or increasing their size Revitalization of local handicrafts and involvement of local craftsmen Maintenance of local cultural, food and wine traditions Income distribution Reuse of abandoned buildings Opportunity to enhance a collective sense of identity and community pride, contributing to the enhancement of social capital Supply of full hotel services, such as day and night reception, attendance, common spaces and guest services Marketing and tourist promotion expenses Real estate redevelopment investment and operational expenses related to tourist accommodation

Source: adapted from Granata and Scavone 2017, 354.

2.11 Potential impact

51

The use of such an atomistic or particular approach in establishing criteria seems to be effective, making it easier to identify the relevant interests of the firm’s managers and public decision makers. Nevertheless, the intangibility of some of the criteria for building use – such as local identity and flexibility – poses serious problems for analytical validity.

2.11.3 The dynamic-relational approach A results-based framework to monitor results has been tested within multiple alberghi diffusis in Italy since the late 1990s (Droli and Dall’Ara 2012; Droli 2010, 2009a, 2008, 2006a, 2006b, 2004, 1997) in order to continuously represent the progress made by various ADs, the location where they operate and the interactions between them. This analytical model considers both the capacities needed by AD’s management if they are to create value for its guests, and those needed by local residents if they are to take advantage of all the opportunities open to them. Such a model monitors the following aspects: effectiveness, efficiency, equity (social involvement) and ecological and economic sustainability (or eco-sustainability); and so has been called a “4E” Model (Droli 2010, 12–18; Droli and Dall’Ara 2012). With regard to marketing effectiveness, the manager of the AD often attempts to increase the percentage of guests who do not normally use hotel facilities and are first-time visitors to the locality, which is also intended to reduce competition with others hotels operating in the area. In addition, residents and public administrators often try to increase the visibility of their rural hamlet via free editorials in the media in order to optimize the performance of promotional budgets. The section of the 4E model focusing on the effectiveness of marketing initiatives considers the following incremental results obtained by an AD: – the number of editorials (web, radio, TV, newspapers) on the location and on the company, published for free – the largest number of requests for room availability information – the largest number of guests who are first-time arrivals in the locality and in the AD – the revenue per available room (RevPAR) – the value attributed to innovation by tourists, travellers for work, daily visitors and residents In the area of organizational efficiency, owners of houses and rooms adopted by the AD often ask the management to increase the revenues generated from bookings, and the manager asks them instead to increase their capacity to improve both lodging and food services. The model measures sales increases for accommodation and catering services which constitute the core business services in tourism: – overnights by first-timers as a proportion of total overnight stays

52

– – – –

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

sales figures for accommodation and catering services average daily cost of accommodation and catering services level of customer satisfaction for the hotel services offered guests’ perception of the specialness of the lodging services, food and drink (hotel core business)

With regard to the involvement of the local community, or an AD’s equity, the AD’s management often needs to quantify the total income produced by the AD. This requires it to quantify the income generated by ancillary services, such as the sales margins obtained by selling typical local products, craft goods, sports lessons, excursions, cooking classes, etc. On the other hand, agricultural businesses, craftsmen, sports instructors and other persons or organizations in the local community tend to require information regarding incomes generated specifically through collaboration with the AD’s management. The 4E model focuses on both the ability of the management of the AD to produce 0 Km income opportunities for the local population (Droli 2013b) and the capacity of the local population to take advantage of them. The results monitored by the model include the following: – the number of guides, instructors, medicinal herbal experts and other local professions involved in both static and dynamic packages – the number of agri-food, forestry, artisan and other enterprises that are involved as described above – the number of business consortia, tour operators, incoming agencies, research centers and other non-local organizations partnering with the AD on the basis of a written agreement – the additional incomes generated by each of them – the agri-food products, crafts, services, and so on that are not offered on site but requested by guests staying at the AD – the potential incomes generated by each of them – the gross operating profit per available room (GOPPAR), covering sales for both core businesses and ancillary businesses – the guest’s evaluations of the inimitability of products and services offered Last but not least, the 4E model takes the ecological sustainability of the AD into consideration. The rural village where the AD is located is often sparsely populated, and the surrounding environment needs to be preserved, made easily accessible and be comfortable for walking or riding. The management of the AD often needs to offer customers accessible routes without being responsible for the maintenance of the whole network of municipal paths. Private residents and local farmers are often available to cut the grass along the paths, prune diseased trees and preserve the environment. If they had help, they might be able to do this more consistently and predictably. The 4E model focuses on the contribution made by the AD to environmental maintenance in a rural area. That analysis model concentrates on both

2.11 Potential impact

53

ecological and economic sustainability. It measures the AD’s management ability to finance the cleaning of the routes used by guests, restore ancient paths, defend rare species and so on. The indicators used by the model include: – environmental funds per available room (EFPAR) made available by both guests and the AD’s management – kilometers of routes directly and indirectly maintained by the AD – number of environmental recovery projects supported – proportion of renewable in total energy consumption – percentage of total waste that is separated before collection – savings made in the use of water and electricity – return on investment – ROI The AD hotel hospitality model has also been described as a “tourism development model” (Dall’Ara 2019, 7). Achieving this important status requires management and its partners also to track the growth in these results. All things considered, monitoring the indicators described above enables the management to verify and to benchmark the progress achieved by the AD in each of the areas identified: effectiveness, efficiency, equity and ecological/economic sustainability, representing key performance indicators. Figure 2.4 represents the so called 4E model which constitutes the optimal results growth curve achieved by an AD. It takes the form of a logarithmic spiral because it postulates the growth of capabilities needed to build on results obtained in each of the four key performance indicators. Once those capabilities are achieved, there is a tendency to achieve equilibrium like any ecological and economic system. If the trajectory of the results obtained by the AD in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, equity and economic and ecological sustainability is near the curve of ideal Ecological Sustainability

Effectiveness

M

Equity, Social involvement

Efficiency

Figure 2.4: The 4E model. The optimal growth curve . Source: Droli, M. Ripartire dalla Bellezza e dall’Italia dei Campanili, 2012.

54

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

results, or faithful to them (Banasiak and Mokhtar-Kharroubi 2015), “the AD can also be allowed the status of a sustainable tourism development model, which means it respects the original hotel hospitality model and achieves 4E results that are growing toward a point of balance” (Droli 2010, 12–18; Droli and Dall’Ara 2012, 108–109).

2.12 Case studies 2.12.1 The case of Corte Fiorita AD Bosa, Sardinia, Italy Among the first of the Albergo Diffuso to open in the 1990s were the AD Sauris in Borgo di San Lorenzo, Friuli; the AD Corte Fiorita in Bosa, Sardinia; and the AD Alberobello in Puglia. The regional authority of Sardinia was the first to officially classify the AD as a hospitality model in 1998. Thus the Corte Fiorita AD represents one of the earliest, formally recognized, ADs. In these few paragraphs, it will be described in very general terms as a case study. The town of Bosa is situated on the west coast of Sardinia, in the province of Oristano. It’s located about 3 km (2 miles) inland, 45 km (27.9 miles) south of the town of Alghero, and 170 km (108.7 miles) northeast of the city of Cagliari. The town is part of the union of rural municipalities of Marghine Planargia and western Montiferru, and is especially rich in historical resources. These include the Casa de Riu museum, the Castle of Serravalle in Bosa, ancient churches, and other historical sites of interest. Furthermore, the town is intersected by the Temo River, and lies only a few kilometers away from the beaches of Capo Mannu, Tinnura, and others, which have consistently been awarded for their beauty and water clarity over the last two decades. Finally, there is the Temo river, the only navigable river in the whole of Sardinia, which divides the town in two. Building on that strength, the AD owns a private marina which is frequented by crews of boaters sailing on the stretch of sea in front of the city of Bosa. The mission of the AD is to provide more experienced travellers with the possibility of experiencing the picturesque seascape and the medieval center as if they were residents. It was to this end that its management renovated historical properties for use as guest accommodation. Today, the three-star AD offers bed and breakfast solutions as well as apartments located in two different buildings within a radius of 200 meters. The AD accounts for a total of twenty-nine rooms, all equipped with traditional-style furniture and spacious bathrooms. Some of them have terraces and panoramic views. The rooms of the AD are equipped with conventional hotel facilities. The basic services offered to guests include: – daily cleaning and tidying of the rooms – linen changes – catering services offered through the establishment of targeted agreements between the AD and renowned restaurants operating in the ancient port area

2.12 Case studies

55

The list of amenities offered by the AD is long and includes: – air conditioning – airport shuttle – AM/FM alarm clock – BBQ facilities – bicycle rental – catering services – baby cots – express check-in/-out – fax/photocopying – free toiletries – free Wi-Fi in rooms – heating – laundry – sports and leisure activities – leisure/TV room – lift – meeting/banquet facilities – mini-bar – newspaper service – non-smoking rooms – paid airport shuttle – paid parking – private marina – room amenities – rooms/facilities for disabled – safe deposit box – services – sitting area The product strategy of Corte Fiorita is based on the development of food, wine, and relaxation-based experiences which are planned and managed through partnering with local fisherman and restaurants. Stand-up paddle boarding, sailing, and other outdoor recreational activities are the most important product offerings in the AD’s portfolio for those who want to relax. This is due to its proximity to the seaside, the existence of a navigable river, and the availability of a private marina. The climate in Bosa is typical for the Mediterranean, and is characterized by mild, wet winters and hot, dry summers. Nevertheless, the proximity of the AD to the sea offers its guests the opportunity to benefit from the sea breeze, especially at night. This is particularly important considering the extremely high temperatures recorded in inland territories in the summer. The climate in Bosa, together with other regional characteristics of Sardinia, such as its regional language (“Sardo”), rural

56

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

traditions, recipes, typical food products, and so on represent important resources to be leveraged by the management of the AD. The AD Corte Fiorita is run by Guglielmo Macchiavello. Thanks to his background in architecture, during the 1990s he was able to envision the possibilities of opening an AD in the area. His decision to open an AD was a result of an assessment process based on his emotions, passion and love for the territory where he lived. For him, recovering old houses required not only technical skills but also emotional involvement and a love for the environment and historical traditions. In his AD, every detail recalls his personal experience of the place and makes guests feel part of his life. Since the AD opened, he has enabled guests to become part of the neighborhood, and they often encounter locals when they come out of their homes. Guests asking for advice on the nearest beaches or restaurants can count on receiving a straight answer from local residents, rather than a promotional spiel. Obviously, the local artisan and agricultural enterprises are important for Guglielmo, too. For instance, guests appreciating the local-style carpets in their rooms have often asked him where they can buy one, and the artisans supplying those carpets to the AD have seen a substantial increase in customers over the years. Figure 2.5 shows a panoramic view of Bosa, Italy. Source and info: www.albergo-diffuso.it/en/

Figure 2.5: The town of Bosa, Italy. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Bosa#/media/File:Bosa.JPEG.

2.12 Case studies

57

2.12.2 The case of Yakageya Inn and Suites AD, Okayama Prefecture, Japan The Yakageya Inn and Suites is both the newest AD and the first one in Japan. Moreover, it represents the end result of a simple but rigorous planning process based on local community involvement and knowledge acquisition. Thus, it offers a valuable case study. The AD is located in Yakage Town which lies in Oda District, Okayama Prefecture, in the San’yō region of Chūgoku in Japan, 695 km (431.7 miles) southwest of Tokyo. The town, which is home to around 15,000 people, lies along the ancient road that connected the southern regions of Japan with the capital in Edo (the early name for Tokyo) during the Tokugawa period. For centuries, the town and its inhabitants have endeavored to maintain the town’s historical identity as a “post town,” evidenced by the annual samurai parade (大名行列), called the “Yakage Shukuba Matsuri Procession,” which is an major event for the community. The parade is held every November to commemorate the town’s history as an important stopping point for the powerful Japanese feudal lords (“daimyō”) and their courts travelling to Edo (Explore Okayama, 2019). Because of its advantageous location, several inns were established in Yakage Town. But with the large number of people stopping at Yakage the inns were soon unable to satisfy the increasing demand. This caused many local families to start offering additional accommodation services to travellers. Yakageya AD has a total of fifteen rooms available, with six residences in the main building and nine residences in secondary buildings, which can accommodate up to 48 guests. The rooms vary in size, and can accommodate anywhere from 2 to 5 guests. Interestingly, are furnished according to different floor plans and cultural styles, either with Western-style beds or traditional Japanese tatami mats, to give guests the chance to enjoy a new experience on every visit. The services and facilities offered by the AD’s staff include: – on-site information (in English, Chinese, Korean, French and Spanish) – Internet access (Lan, Wi-Fi) – language support (English, Chinese, Korean, French and Spanish), – non-smoking rooms – Onsen – hot spring baths (with tattoo policy in place) – parking – payment options (credit card, cash) – restaurants – vending machines Furthermore, convenience stores, supermarkets, restaurants, and cafés are easily accessible to the AD’s guests. As the AD’s tag line – “Stay and relax at a traditional Edo style house” – suggests, guests mainly visit for relaxation. The AD also organizes various excursions in the area.

58

2 The Albergo Diffuso as an original model for hotelier hospitality

Despite the small size of Yakage Town, its administrative territory is particularly rich in the arts. It also has various cultural and natural resources, including sacred monuments, the Prefectural Museum of Art at Okayama, the Yakage Honjin Former Ishii Residence, as well as soy sauce manufacturers (“Ishii”), farms, a cultural center, hot spring baths, etc. As can be noted, different aspects link the experience of the Yakageya AD in Japan to other ADs. For instance, interactions established centuries ago between nobles travelling through rural areas and local residents form the foundation for creating a scattered culture of hospitality within the community in which the AD operates. The local community is required to play a strategic role, both in facilitating the AD’s set-up process and in taking advantage of the economic opportunities stemming from the business. Furthermore, local decision makers should always bear in mind that the Albergo Diffuso model does not merely represent a business model, but rather is a process of rejuvenating rural economies, or what we could call a “passion-to-restore-based business.”

Figure 2.6: Yakage-juku, Yakage, Japan. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=Yakage&title=Special% 3ASearch&go=Go&ns0=1&ns6=1&ns12=1&ns14=1&ns100=1&ns106=1#/media/File:160320_ Yakage-juku_Yakage_Okayama_pref_Japan06n.jpg.

2.12 Case studies

59

In 2012, encouraged by Mr. Dall’Ara (ADI, 2019), a dynamic entrepreneur, Mr. Adachi Seiji, identified some properties that could be acquired or managed through partnerships with their owners. With the involvement of the property owners, Mr. Seiji then presented a joint project to the municipal administration to secure their interest. He then travelled to Italy to visit 10 pre-selected ADs. In 2014, with the benefit of the knowledge he had gained, he started renovating an ancient Japanese inn (or “Ryokan”) and some houses in Yakageya. The Yakageya Inn and Suites opened for business in 2016 and, thanks to a strong public contribution, has rapidly diversified the range of services offered to guests by partnering with local shops, restaurants, and entertainment service suppliers. On June 12, 2018, the Alberghi Diffusi National Association officially recognized the Yakageya Inn and Suites, making it the first Albergo Diffuso operating in Japan. Figure 2.6 shows the Yakage-juku in Yakage, Japan. Source and info: www.yakageya.com

3 Rural hamlets: Basic requirements for setting up the hospitality model Chapter 2 of this book describes a model of hospitality suitable for accelerating the development of sustainable tourism in rural areas. This raises several key questions that will be addressed in Chapter 3: – Which countryside-related quality requirements should a rural hamlet satisfy in order to have the potential to host an AD? – Which potential resources are harnessed by an AD? – How do valuable resources create value-added and health benefits for guests? In addressing these questions, this chapter offers readers knowledge of: – the distinguishing characteristics of the living environment that positively influence hosts’ health and wellness in the countryside – the strategic role played by urban-rural interactions in improving the attractiveness and competitiveness of rural areas – the strategic role played by ADs in taking advantage of the potential of these interactions

3.1 The AD model as a resource-based hospitality model The previous chapter discussed the mechanisms triggered by historical resources and cultural assets when establishing and managing an AD. These represent the dominant, mainstream mechanisms in rural tourism development and have been widely investigated (Avrami, Mason and De La Torre 2000; Baumol and Bowen 1966; Blaug 2001; De La Torre 2002; Hutter and Rizzo 1997; Klamer 2002; Lazzeretti 2004; Montella 2009; Re 2006; Spranzi 1994; Throsby 2003). Yet, despite these achievements, the question of “what makes a rural area rural?” extends beyond cultural resources. This question is not new in the field of tourism research. The management of an AD is necessary to control production factors, which are both internal and external to firms’ boundaries (see Chapter 2). In particular, tangible and intangible productive factors in the natural environment in which the company operates represent important aspects that should be considered when establishing an AD (Vallone, Orlandini and Cecchetti, 2013). Some scholars, including the German philosopher and poet Hans Magnus Enzensberger (1999) and the Italian sociologist Domenico De Masi (1999), have suggested that relatively clean air to breathe, tranquility at night, the availability of free space, a sense of security, and other factors related to the rural way of life are becoming more valuable in developing sustainable tourism. The fundamental role played https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110643763-003

3.2 Exploring urban–rural interactions for sustainable tourism

61

by each of these factors in attracting experienced guests to semi-abandoned rural hamlets was also recognized in early reports published on the AD model (Dall’Ara, Di Bartolo, and Montaguti 2000; Dall’Ara 1998, 1997, 1995, 1989). Nevertheless – almost incredibly – little attention has been given to a thorough analysis of such factors. Consequently, the mechanisms by which each of them can improve both the attractiveness and competitiveness of a rural hamlet for the purposes of establishing an AD remain obscure. Increasing the knowledge of such mechanisms is particularly important for ADs hosting travelers who live predominantly in urbanized areas where these resources can be scarce. This chapter suggests that rurality and rural resources can represent the product themselves (Chowdhary 2018), or at least a necessary and sufficient premise. The following pages discuss the strategic role that an AD could play in promoting a healthier lifestyle among people living in the most polluted urban areas representing its proximity markets.

3.2 Exploring urban–rural interactions for sustainable tourism development purposes As is well known, there is no universally accepted definition of urban. The United Nations counted 17 definitions in African countries, 15 in North America, 11 in South America, 27 in Asia, 25 in Europe and 6 in Oceania, for a total of 83 definitions (UN 2005). Academic scholars have often discussed the need to adopt a universally recognized definition of an urban area (Glaab and Brown 1976). Considering the national key features of urban areas, the differences between urban and rural areas cannot be entirely captured by a single definition. In European countries, urban areas have been defined as agglomerations that are part of a territory delimited by the member state, having a population in excess of 100,000 persons and a population density such that the Member State considers it to be an urbanized area, according to the 2000/C 337 Environmental Noise Directive (European Parliament 2002), while heterogeneous definitions coexist on each continent. For the purposes of this book, the general definition of an urban area as a functional economic unit is used (OECD 2018). On this topic, the urbanization process, over-urbanization and sustainable urbanization process management have been considered widely by both academic and institutional researchers. Naturally, urbanization and economic development are directly related, and that link facilitates the shift from a rural-based country economy to an urban–industrial one (Davis and Henderson 2003). Nevertheless, different studies, including one by Zhang (2008), have suggested that the continued growth of the world’s population and increasing urbanization are creating a global challenge to preserve the environment and maintain the quality of life of the urban dwellers, as well as to improve sustainable development in developed and developing countries.

62

3 Rural hamlets: Basic requirements for setting up the hospitality model

For instance, different studies have highlighted how physical activity, diet, and patterns of obesity, are quickly shifting among people living in urban areas in China (Boqiang and Xiying 2010; Dadao 2007), Europe (Antrop 2004), the US (Berry 1980), India (O’Neill et al. 2012) and Africa (Brückner 2012). Multiple studies have observed the problems endemic to these growing cities and suggested that the cities themselves have a role in shaping, sometimes negatively, individual well-being (Durant and Durant 1967; Durkheim 1951; Engels 1887; Marsella 1995). Considering the important role played by the urban environment in shaping both economic development and especially human health, “urban health” has been portrayed as a distinct biomedical research field (Galea and Vlahov 2005). The first section of this chapter deals with the damage caused by “hidden enemies” of human health including the fear of crime, loneliness, the urban way of life, light pollution at night, nocturnal noise pollution, the scarcity of available spaces and air pollution, each of them capable of generating the need to escape from the urban environment for a period in a healthier rural area.

3.2.1 Fear of street crime In the last three decades, the fear of street crime, terrorism attacks, and fear tout court have reduced self-perceived safety, representing a basic human need (Maslow 1970). Especially fear and the fear of crime, as phenomena affecting the urban population, have been studied extensively since the 1980s in North America and in a number of western European countries (Liska, Sanchirico and Reed 1988). The phrase fear of crime is often used in the academic field (Curiel and Bishop 2018, Rader 2017). For this book’s purposes, it can be described as “the emotional reaction characterized by a sense of danger and anxiety produced by the threat of physical harm elicited by perceived cues in the environment that relate to some aspect of crime” (Garofalo 1981, 840). Despite its intuitive power, fear of crime refers to a complex and dynamic phenomenon. The links between crime, the fear of crime, the environment, health and wellbeing are multiple and dynamic and thus complex, especially because individuals tend to feel themselves to be vulnerable to crime even if they are not vulnerable, for instance, despite low crime rates (Rader 2017). Furthermore, that term is widely used and sometimes overused (Ferraro and La Grange 1987). Nevertheless, it has frequently been recognized as short-hand for describing a whole range of attitudes, feelings, reactions and emotions that people have towards crime and victimization. Both the fear of crime and the fear of street crime can take the form of worry and anxiety (Hough 1995, Pantazis 2000), terror, panic and unease (Burnett 2006, 127–128). Both the fear of crime and the fear of street crime have become a major social problem in poorer inner-city areas since the 1980s, for instance in England, according to a number of local crime surveys launched by the national British Crime

3.2 Exploring urban–rural interactions for sustainable tourism

63

Survey, including those by Anderson et al. (1990b), Crawford et al. (1990) and Kinsey (1984). In the last two decades, the EU Commission has been surveying the causes of worrying about organized crime and terrorism (Eurobarometer 1996, 2002, 2018). Questions include items such as How safe do you feel walking alone after dark in the area where you live? to evaluate people’s personal sense of security on the street in European cities. In 2002, this feeling was especially high in Denmark, where 60% of the respondents felt very safe. Nevertheless, the remaining 40% responded differently. Conversely, feeling either a little unsafe or very unsafe was reported by 42% of respondents in the UK and Italy, as well as 43% in Greece. From 1996–2002, Germany was the only European Union Member State in which a continuous decline in the feeling of insecurity was observed. The demographic groups in the EU with the highest levels of insecurity were women and elderly people. Indeed, country and specific local effects can explain different levels of fear of crime. More recently, the fear of crime has been found to be unexpectedly high in Northern European countries (Macassa et al. 2017) and also in Southern Europe (Eitle and Taylor 2008). Fear of crime has recently been found to be unexpectedly high in urban areas. Since the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York, religious fundamentalist terrorism, in particular, has represented a political violence phenomenon aimed to increase fear, particularly in urban populations (Hofmann 2013; Sinclair and Antonius 2012; West and Orr 2005). Other recent terrorist attacks occurring in various countries have likely reduced the percentage of people who feel very safe, especially those living in the largest cities. More recently, significant differences have been found in the distribution and the level of crime in rural, urban and suburban areas, for instance in England. Here, crime rates in inner city and urban areas have been found between two and three times higher than in rural areas (Matthews, Johnson and Lee 2016). In their article “Fear and the City” (2001), Bannister and Fyfe shed light on the close interconnection between the urban environment and the emergence of fear in large sections of the population. Several studies have highlighted both direct and indirect relations between the fear of crime and a number of mental and physical health issues. The direct impacts include both physical injuries and physiological trauma resulting from being victimized. They have been often estimated by quantifying the daily-adjusted life years (DALY) lost due to ill health, disability or early death and are not considered for this book’s purposes. The indirect impact on human health, especially due to the degraded urban environment has been investigated by several scholars, including Lorenc et al. (2012), who suggested that the built environment can increase the fear of crime and negatively affect human health indirectly. Early studies emphasizing the relationships between acts of vandalism in cities and the fear of crime have been carried out since the 1960s, mainly in the United States (Zimbardo 1969). For instance, Hindelang, Gottfredson and Garofalo (1978) identified the indicators of urban

64

3 Rural hamlets: Basic requirements for setting up the hospitality model

degradation associated with an increased fear of crime, including drugs, gangs of uncontrolled teenagers walking the streets and vandalism. Wilson and Kelling (1982), who developed the “broken window theory,” suggested that even small signs of incivility – such as broken windows, which are often tolerated by the police – can play an important role in increasing residents’ perception of insecurity and heightening their fear of crime. The same characteristics of the urban environment seem to be at the heart of the problem. Poorly designs subways, housing and streets are also often implicated directly in fear for crime generation (Warr 1985, 1990). Social variables, including income inequality and ethnically mixed neighborhoods, have been found to be related to the fear of crime; and also societies with the greatest income inequality and ethnic composition heterogeneity are more fearful of crime (Semyonov, Gorodzeisky and Glikman 2012; Vauclair and Bratanova 2017). As has been suggested, the fear of crime represents a complex and dynamic phenomenon. Nevertheless, the urban environment increasingly emerges as a “scary environment” (England and Simon 2010; Pain 2000). For reasons including those mentioned above, the fear of crime is now recognized as one of the main concerns for administrators in almost every large city (Carro, Valera and Vidal 2010), and it’s the basis for a growing number of urban safety policies (Ferretti, Pozza and Coluccia 2018). In Europe, there are different projects to help decision makers manage crimerelated fear in the urban population, including the research project titled “Insecurities in European Cities. Crime-Related Fears Within the Context of New Anxieties and Community-Based Crime Prevention” (INSEC) supported by the European Commission within its 5th Framework Programme 1998–2002 (EU Commission 2004). The reasons for this include the severe consequences of fear of crime for the quality of life, wellness and health of millions of people in urban areas. The association between living in a frightening environment and health outcomes is well established. As it has been affirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) Constitution (1946), human health is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of a disease or infirmity” (WHO 1995, 1). Following the WHO’s definition of health, well-being represents part of the wider concept of health and fear of crime can be described as a social form of pollution. Without considering important exceptions (Bowling et al. 2006), several studies have found that the fear of crime is associated with poorer mental and physical health. These include Beatty et al. (2005), Chandola (2001), Green et al. (2002), Roberts et al. (2009), Ross (1993), Ross and Mirowsky (2001), and Stafford, Chandola and Marmot (2007). The majority of these studies point to the negative effects of urban neighborhood characteristics on human health. For instance, Tucker-Seeley et al. (2009) indicate that a high fear of crime, or the perceived lack of neighborhood safety can act as a potential barrier to physical exercise for adults and especially for elderly people. Sun et al. (2012) find that living in urban neighborhoods is related to

3.2 Exploring urban–rural interactions for sustainable tourism

65

functional decline in the urban population, especially for elderly people, and suggests that the relationship between health and safety perception is proven for all age groups in urban areas. Lorenc et al. (2012) suggest an articulated framework aimed at identifying unexpected factors that may reduce human health in urban areas. According to that framework, crime, the fear of crime, the social environment, the built environment, health and well-being represent a strictly interlinked unicuum. Moving along this path, Wandersman and Nation (1998) investigate urban neighborhood toxicity with the purpose of increasing the resilience of the urban population and defining targeted city policy interventions. As is known, large urban areas, in particular, contain both sophisticated and wealthy areas as well as basic and popular neighborhoods. Commercial neighborhoods and areas for entertainment co-exist with areas of extreme deprivation and poverty. Thus, the concentration of income distribution exacerbated by the high population density in urban areas may contribute to creating an unequal social environment that negatively affect human health. Following these studies, what we can call life in anonymous and unsafe places can facilitate selfish behaviors which are not determined by social imperatives (Lukes 1973; Durkheim 1951).

3.2.2 Loneliness Loneliness represents a form of social exclusion. Several scholars have found that the risk of social exclusion-related diseases, such as depression and anxiety, tends to rise when living in a city and that the rate of schizophrenia is markedly higher in people born and brought up in cities than in those in the countryside (Kennedy and Adolphs 2011; Krabbendam and van Os 2005; Lederbogen et al. 2011). In cities across different countries, loneliness represents both an emerging issue and an oxymoron. There are no univocally accepted definitions of loneliness. For this book’s purposes, it can be described as “a natural response of the individual to certain situations, not necessarily as a form of weakness, which can assume the distinct form of both emotional isolation and social isolation, and can generate feelings of emptiness, anxiety, restlessness and marginality” (Weiss 1973, 6). Many scholars, including Dykstra and De Jong-Gierveld (1994), have analyzed loneliness by considering it as a discrepancy between actual and desired personal relationships. Others, such as Victor et al. (2000), have consistently demonstrated the importance of social and family relationships in the definition of a good quality of life in countering emotional isolation. Consistently, the share of households living alone can represent a proxy for emotional isolation and loneliness. The number of household occupants has been investigated in the EU’s 28 countries in different periods, including from 2007 to 2016. Table 3.1 shows households by number of occupants in the EU’s 28 countries in 2007 and 2016. Between those years, the share of EU’s 28 countries’ households that were composed of one or two

66

3 Rural hamlets: Basic requirements for setting up the hospitality model

persons rose from a remarkable 60.1% to an even higher 63.7%. In 2016, singleperson households accounted for almost one-third (32.5%) of the private households in the EU’s 28 countries (Eurostat 2018). That same year, a larger proportion of women (18.4%) were living alone than men (14.1%). Most importantly for this book’s purposes, loneliness is not equally distributed, as suggested by Figure 3.1 representing dwellings by number of occupants, national averages and capital regions. Persons living alone. Loneliness seems to be more concentrated in capital, and thus urban, regions with respect to national averages, including non-capital regions and rural areas. These results were confirmed during the following years (Eurostat, 2018). Table 3.1: Households by number of occupants in EU-28 countries in 2007 and 2016. Percentage of all households



*

One person Two persons Three persons Four persons Five persons Six persons or more

. . . . . .

. . . . . .

Source: Eurostat, 2018. 2007: EU-27. 2016. * data subject to adjustment

Studies have suggested that loneliness may be exacerbated by the cumulative interaction effects of the above-mentioned fear of crime, low incomes, poor services and transient populations (Kearns et al. 2015). Thus, cumulative effects should be taken into consideration when dealing with local policies aimed at increasing the quality of life of urban dwellers. Living alone reduces the possibilities of obtaining immediate help in the case of need. According to early research, including that by Kobrin and Hendershot (1977), family ties reduce mortality. Despite some studies finding that subjective loneliness is not associated with increased morbidity or mortality from the age of 70 to the age of 90 (Stessman 2013), others, including Luo et al. (2012) have demonstrated that loneliness both affects and is affected by depressive symptoms and functional limitations over time. In recent years, literature reviews, including that by Ong et al. (2016), have assessed the direct relationship between loneliness and augmented health risks, especially in older adults. Increased loneliness has been related to reduced cognitive functioning, especially in older adults (Boss, Kang and Branson 2015), as well as physical and mental illness and higher rates of mortality (Berkman and Kawachi 2000; Stansfeld 2006). A survey of 47,761 respondents in the US on the social and environmental variables

3.2 Exploring urban–rural interactions for sustainable tourism

0

20

40

67

60

Norway France Germany Denmark Austria Belgium Netherlands Hungary Switzerland Sweden Czech Republic United Kingdom European Union Avg. Poland Italy Iceland Rīga Estonia Romania Slovakia Greece Slovenia Portugal Bulgaria Ireland Spain Average

Capital region

Figure 3.1: Dwellings by number of occupants, national averages and capital regions. Persons living alone. Source: Eurostat 2015. Census hub HC54. P. 9. Data extracted in 2011. Note: Data for capital regions are based on NUTS level 3 regions.

influencing the incidence of mild-to-moderate brain injury found that the risk of having a medically diagnosed brain injury was the highest among three subgroups: teens and young adults, men, and low-income individuals who live alone (Sosin, Sneziek and Thurman 1996).

3.2.3 Poor work-life balance The 40-hour work week is very common for employed people living in both developed and developing countries. For millions of people this causes a poor work-life balance, resulting in chronic, prolonged stress. At the same time, several developed

68

3 Rural hamlets: Basic requirements for setting up the hospitality model

societies are experiencing both a reduction in the traditional 9-to-5 work day and an increase in night shifts and weekend work. Nurses, social workers, retailers, drivers, delivery people and many more professionals are increasingly required to meet the needs, requirements and expectations of “cities that never sleep,” as, for instance, New York has been known since the 1950s. Realizing that the economic value of night-time economic activities extends well beyond culture and nightlife, supposedly the largest share of the night-time economy, more European cities – including Amsterdam (in 2003) and London (in 2016) – have appointed night-time commissions and mayors. Other cities, including Milan, Paris, Berlin, Sydney and Zurich, are moving in the same direction. As a result, nearly one in five workers (18%) in the EU affirms a poor work-life balance and this percentage remains stable since 2000, according to the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (Eurofound, 2018). A recent Eurofound survey of 37,000 people (aged 18–64 years) aimed at monitoring trends in living conditions in the EU investigated both individual and social variables. Regarding the former, the proportion of respondents stating that they feel “too tired from work to do household jobs’ in 2007 and 2016 were 49% and 64%, respectively. Those declaring themselves ‘to encounter difficulty in fulfilling family responsibilities because of time spent at work’ grew from 30% to 38%. Last but not least, the share of EU citizens answering that they ‘meet difficulty concentrating at work because of family responsibilities” grew from 12% in 2007 to 19% in 2016 (Eurofound 2017). Living and working conditions can also be deeply influenced by social variables. For instance, lifestyles have become even more based on shift work, and changed dietary patterns requiring more meals outside the home or in a family setting have produced more irregular eating patterns, including skipping breakfast and late-night eating (Lowden et al. 2010). Some studies, including one by Anderson et al. (2017), have shown that, during night hours, sleep duration and sleep quality in highly stressful urban areas have declined over the past decades, especially in young adults and children. Nevertheless, the average percentage of respondents who report encountering work-life balance issues several times a month (%) is constantly increasing in the EU, mainly due to shift work (Eurofound 2018). Thus, millions of people are suffering from a poor work-life balance. A relationship between a poor work-life balance, especially from shift work and major vascular disease, has been established in the literature. Shift work influences circadian cycles, which are linked to basic cellular functions as well as to tissuespecific processes through the control of gene expression and protein interactions. A recent survey (Wyse et al. 2017) of 277,168 UK citizens indicated that shift work is associated with multiple indicators of poor health and low well-being, such as obesity and diabetes, despite respondents’ higher level of physical activity and even when shift workers do not work nights. Thus, it has been suggested that shift

3.2 Exploring urban–rural interactions for sustainable tourism

69

work itself represents an emerging social factor contributing to disease in the urban environment across the working population. Some observational studies have reported an increased risk of vascular morbidity, vascular mortality or all causes of mortality in relation to shift work (Vyas et al. 2012). Disregulation of circadian rhythms may influence the susceptibility to cancer development (Gery and Koeffler 2007). Further studies have also discovered that female shift workers may be at greater risk of heart disease (McPherson et al. 2011). Moreover, significant changes in meal timing are rapidly changing secular trends in sleep patterns and related dietary patterns as well. These changes are increasingly augmenting the likelihood of incurring nonlinear changes and “turning-points in food styles” (Piccinini et al. 2019), which could have positive/negative impacts on public health. In an attempt to reduce the negative impact of those turning points on public health, new areas of research in nutritional sciences are emerging, including “chrononutrition,” which combines elements of nutritional research with chrono-biology (Pot 2017).

3.2.4 Light at night (LAN) pollution In most of the world’s large urban centers, stargazing is something that happens at a planetarium. Indeed, when a 1994 earthquake knocked out the power in Los Angeles, many anxious residents called local emergency centers to report seeing a strange “giant, silvery cloud” in the dark sky. What they were really seeing – for the first time – was the Milky Way, long obliterated by the urban sky glow. (Chepesiuk 2009, 20)

The widespread use of artificial light at night represents one of the most characteristic key features of the urban living environment, and its invention represents one of the most important human technological advances. Nevertheless, despite these achievements, its omnipresence, especially in urban areas, has only recently emerged as a topic of inquiry of global interest due to its implications for human health and ecosystem preservation. To investigate these interactions with the environment, the academic and medical literature has normally used the term “light pollution” or photopollution. Several definitions of light pollution can be used. For instance, light pollution can indicate the exposure of human beings to bright and unnatural light during night hours (Reppert and Weaver 2002). To date, no univocally accepted thresholds indicating acceptable/unacceptable light exposure have been established. For this book’s purposes, light pollution can be described as artificial light exposure causing harmful consequences for the environment, including human beings, enlightened through scientific evidence. Different methods have been suggested to measure light-at-night pollution, including those developed by Kránicz, Kolláth and Gyutay (2008) and Longcore and Rich (2004) to study its impact on environmental resources and reduce its heavy negative ecological consequences. In 2001, 21% of the world’s population lived in

70

3 Rural hamlets: Basic requirements for setting up the hospitality model

urban areas, where light pollution obscures views of the Milky Way, according to the ultra-high-resolution satellite images adopted by the first World Atlas of the Artificial Night Sky Brightness (Cinzano, Falchi and Elvidge 2001). In Europe, which is one of the most light-polluted continents, 19% of the overall land surface was covered by lights with a level of intensity above the threshold for polluted status. Mainly due to light at night (LAN) pollution mismanagement, in the last fifteen years, increasing urbanization and globalization have been leapfrogging the light pollution escalation curves registered in the last fifty years (Riegel 1973). In 2016, according to the updated New World Atlas of Artificial Night Sky Brightness (Falchi et al. 2016), the Milky Way is hidden for almost 80% of North Americans, 60% of Europeans and more than one-third of humanity. Dramatically, more than 80% of the world population and more than 99% of US and European populations live under light-polluted skies, often in urban areas. Moreover, 23% of the world’s land surfaces between 75°N and 60°S (88% of Europe and almost half of the United States) experience light-polluted nights. For a long time, medical science overlooked the role played by LAN pollution in increasing the overall incidence of cancer in urban areas. Nowadays, the transformation of nightscapes into lightscapes is increasingly recognized as having adverse effects on human beings, the survival of animal species and the preservation of the environment (Navara and Nelson 2007). In regard to human health, the hypothesis that the suppression of melatonin (MLT) by exposure to LAN as one reason for the higher rates of cancers in the developed world first attracted attention in the early 2000s (Stevens and Rea 2001). Studies such as those by Erren, Reiter and Piekarski (2003) and Russart and Nelson (2017), have found a direct relationship between light exposure and circadian rhythm disruptions. Other scholars have suggested that circadian rhythm disruptions induced by LAN can alter the endocrine system and lead to increased obesity (Wyse et al. 2011); cancer (Reiter et al. 2006); breast cancer (Stevens and Rea 2001); cancer, mood and obesity (Fonken and Nelson 2011); colorectal cancer (Schernhammer et al. 2003; and reduced longevity (Reiter et al. 2002). An extensive analysis was carried out by Kloog et al. (2010). They analyzed the average night-time illumination levels in 164 countries. By elaborating both satellite images and urban maps, they found that the risk of breast cancer is 30–50% higher in countries with the highest LAN exposure compared to countries with the lowest. They suggested that a significant positive association between the light at night (LAN) level and the incidence rates of breast cancer could represent an issue connecting different countries and continents. Others, including Pauley (2004), have reviewed existing studies on the health suppression effects of LAN and suggested the birth of an emerging public health issue. Along the same lines, Meier et al. (2014) focused on cities’ lighting issues, underlining the need for dimmer lights and the urgency of quantifying the value of night skies by connecting often fragmented, monodisciplinary research.

3.2 Exploring urban–rural interactions for sustainable tourism

71

3.2.5 Environmental noise pollution (ENP) Outdoor environmental noise, and especially outdoor environmental noise pollution (ENP), represent complex and, most importantly, persistent issues. In European countries, the former has been defined as an “unwanted or harmful outdoor sound created by human activities, including noise emitted by means of transport, road traffic, rail traffic, air traffic, and from sites of industrial activity” such as those defined in Annex I to Council Directive 96/61/EC of 24 September 1996 concerning integrated pollution prevention (European Parliament, Directive 2002/49/EC). Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the public has been aware of the negative impact of environmental noise on human health. Nevertheless, it has been underestimated by decision makers due to their tendency to give priority to other environmental issues that appear more urgent. Thus, the harmful effects of noise pollution on human health have been uncovered only in the last twenty years. Most worryingly, the problem continues to exist despite scientific efforts, attempts to control it and policies to mitigate noise (Murphy and King 2014). For instance, Eurobarometer monitors the attitudes of citizens in 28 European countries on the environment. According to a Special Barometer Edition reporting the opinions of 27,881 respondents, ENP is among the ten most important environmental issues for EU citizens (Eurobarometer 2017). In European countries, the Environmental Noise Directive (END) monitors environmental noise by adopting two levels of observation and different thresholds: (1) Lden (day, evening, night), based on 1 hour Leq (average equivalent, continuous sound level over time), is above 55 dB; and (2) Lnight (during the night time) above 50 dB. Exposure to outdoor noise is monitored by the 7th Environment Action Programme (7th EAP), despite a certain degree of heterogeneity existing between EU and World Health Organization (WHO) thresholds, an element requiring attention (Hurtley 2009). Figure 3.2 represents the estimated number of people (millions) exposed to Lden above 55 dBA in the EU-28 and (EAA) which includes countries both Inside Urban Areas (IUA) and Outside Urban Areas (OUA) in 2012, when the most recent data were analyzed, Road traffic has the greatest impact on both IUA and OUA as shown by the Figure 3.2 illustrating the estimated number of people (millions) exposed to Lden above 55 dB. In the former areas, the people affected by noise pollution in the EU-28 and in the EEA-33 reached considerable levels of 69,694,300 and 73,474,500. Road traffic noise has been shown to be very unevenly distributed between IUA and OUA. The number of people living outside urban areas affected by noise pollution in the EU-28 and in the EEA-33 is estimated to be 29,323,600 and 30,066,900, respectively, which is half the figure for IUA. These data suggest that the impact of traffic-related noise pollution is double that in rural areas. The impact of trains, airplanes and industries seems to be much smaller and more evenly distributed between IUA and OUA than the impact of road traffic noise. Nevertheless, both of them represent the most spatially concentrated sources of noise pollution.

72

3 Rural hamlets: Basic requirements for setting up the hospitality model

80,000,000 70,000,000

60,000,000 50,000,000 40,000,000 30,000,000 20,000,000

10,000,000 0

Ro

a

( ds

IU

A)

A)

a

ilw

Ra

( rts

A)

du

)

)

O s(

d

oa

r or

In

aj

M

r

ajo

M

)

UA

UA

IU

( try

s

o

rp

Ai

A)

IU

IU

( ys

O s(

y

wa

il ra

r

ajo

M

UA

t

or

p air

O s(

EU-28

EEA-33

Figure 3.2: Estimated number of people (millions) exposed to Lden above 55 dB. Source: Adapted from the European Environment Agency (EEA) www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps /indicators/exposure-to-and-annoyance-by-2. Data extracted in 2012. Last data available: https:// www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/indicators/exposure-to-and-annoyance-by-2/assessment-3.

The number of people living inside urban areas who are exposed to road, rail, aircraft and industrial noise pollution in the EEA-33 is as follows: – road traffic: 103,541,400 people exposed to levels above 55 dB Lden – railways: 19,382,200 people – aircraft noise: 4,109,600 people – industrial noise: 999,800 people As one may note, the size of the population exposed to noise pollution increases further when applying the non-harmful threshold of Lnight 50 dB instead of that higher than Lden 55 dB adopted by the EEA. Thus, the impact of noise pollution during the night remains largely underinvestigated. The EEA-33 cooperating countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Own elaboration) In Asia, other studies have confirmed the high exposure of urban residents to the harmful effects of noise pollution. For instance, Tsai, Lin and Chen (2009) developed noise maps for Tainan City in Taiwan for the purpose of investigating environmental noise at the micro (urban) level. The findings suggested that over 90% of the Tainan City population is exposed to a noise level that surpasses the risk thresholds. Most importantly for this book’s aim, they suggested that the noise pollution levels during

3.2 Exploring urban–rural interactions for sustainable tourism

73

both summer (morning and evening) and winter (morning, afternoon and evening) achieved by the monitored agricultural zones are the lowest with respect to others, including residential zones and “others” (Tsai, Lin and Chen 2009). The EU 7th Environment Action Programme (7th EAP) aims to decrease noise pollution significantly by 2020. Nevertheless, efforts to manage the increase in sound produced by individual noise sources are being offset by continuous migration to urban areas and increased vehicle traffic. Thus, the studies shown here have suggested that the probability of being exposed to outdoor noise pollution tends to increase as population density increases, which is not counterintuitive. Regarding outdoor noise pollution, healthier rural areas seem to have an advantage over urban ones. A 2000, study by Passchier-Vermeer and Passchier (2000) suggested that outdoor noise pollution produces negative consequences for human health, including annoyance, sleep disturbance, changes in sleep patterns, subjective sleep quality, mood the next day, performance, hypertension and ischemic heart disease. In 2009, the World Health Organization published a widely debated study called “Night Noise Guidelines for Europe,” mapping the main negative health outcomes from noise exposure, ranging from no substantial biological effects to increased risk of cardiovascular disease (WHO 2009). Eleven years after the Passchier-Vermeer, and Passchier (2000) study, the effect of environmental noise on public health was recognized by the WHO European Center for Environment and Health (WHO 2011), which estimated that disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) = years lived with disability (YLD) + years of life lost (YLL). One DALY is equivalent to one year of healthy life lost. According to the WHO (2011), extensive scientific studies have reported that especially road traffic noise: – increases the risk of ischemic heart disease, including myocardial infarction (pp. 15–34) – negatively affects children’s learning processes and memory (pp. 45–53) – affects sleep quality by provoking effects that are both immediate (e.g., arousal responses, sleep stage changes, awakening, body movements, total waking time, autonomic responses) and after-effects (e.g., sleepiness, daytime performance, cognitive function deterioration) as well as long-term effects (e.g., selfreported chronic sleep disturbances) (pp. 55–67) – generates tinnitus, which is often found to be present concomitantly with hearing impairments and hearing loss (pp. 71–82) Even conservative estimates by the WHO (2011) for DALYs lost from environmental noise in the European Union Member States and other Western European countries were dramatic: – 61,000 years for ischemic heart disease – 45,000 years for the cognitive impairment of children – 903,000 years for sleep disturbance

74

3 Rural hamlets: Basic requirements for setting up the hospitality model

– 22,000 years for tinnitus, and – 654,000 years for annoyance In conclusion, noise pollution represents the second major environmental and public health burden, following air pollution. As underlined by Ising and Kruppa (2004), a relatively low sound level of ambient noise was not considered to be a potential health hazard in the past. More recent studies have found an association between night-time exposure to noise at normal urban levels and shorter sleep duration, reduced sleep quality and changes in sleep stages assessed with the nonauditory effects of low environmental noise exposure (Basner et al. 2014; Miedema and Vos 2007). Further reviews, including that by Vienneau et al. (2015), analyzing the health effects of simultaneous noise and air pollution, have not been well investigated. As suggested by Heinecke-Schmitt et al. (2018), today the question is no longer whether noise is responsible for extra-aural diseases, but under which conditions and to what extent the risks arise. According to the Special Eurobarometer 468 (2017, 8) “Attitudes of European citizens towards the environment,” 81% of European citizens feel that environmental issues have an impact on their daily life and especially on their health, and noise pollution is ranked tenth among the most important environmental issues. Nevertheless, it represents the second source of illness in order of importance, as mentioned above. Thus, urban dwellers could be made aware of that discrepancy.

3.2.6 Relatively low availability of green spaces In the last 200 years, city planners have provided urban areas with better hygiene conditions, housing and directional services. Despite these achievements, the availability of urban green spaces (UGSs), especially in the suburbs, seems to be heterogeneously distributed. A recent study (Kabisch et al. 2015) was the first to rank a large sample of European cities in regard to the availability of UGSs. The results show that one-third of the population living in the top-ranked Scandinavian cities or in Western EU cities, such as in Austria and western Germany, do not live within 500 meters of at least of 2 hectares of green space. Conversely, in a number of the worst-performing Eastern European cities, such as those in Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, as well as in Southern EU cities (in Greece, Italy and Spain), people living within 500 meters of at least of 2 hectares of UGS accounted for more than 60%. This is despite the huge efforts that have been made to improve the availability of UGSs. Different cities have provided threshold values for per capita UGSs, or for a minimum amount of UGSs for defined areas, in order to accelerate the creation of UGSs and improve their management. In North America, these include New York

3.2 Exploring urban–rural interactions for sustainable tourism

75

(Lu et al. 2014), Boston (Danford et al. 2014) and Los Angeles (Pincetl et al. 2013). In Europe, the European Environment Agency (EEA) has recommended that people should have access to green spaces within a 15-minute distance from home, which is approximately 900–1,000 m (Stanners and Bourdeau 1995). Moreover, different governments around the world have provided threshold values for per capita UGSs, or for a minimum amount of UGSs for defined areas. These include Germany (Berlin), which requires 6 m2 UGS per person (Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt 2013). In the UK, Natural England requires each urban resident to have access to a natural green space of at least 2 hectares within a distance of 300 meters from home (Handley et al. 2003). And, in the Netherlands, the “Green City Guidelines” project recommends that every residential household be within 500 meters of a “green network” (de Roo 2011). Unfortunately, for urban dwellers these achievements are important but insufficient and cannot satisfy the growing demand for green spaces such as residential gardens, city parks, urban forests and other open spaces (Kabisch et al. 2015). Ever more cities are offering UGSs to their citizens in an attempt to satisfy this growing demand. Nevertheless, “UGS represent generally a low priority in many countries at both national and local levels and their development, management and maintenance still represents a challenge” (Kabisch et al. 2016, 586). This happens for a number of reasons. In Europe, for instance, decision makers often try to create “high-density” urban areas, adapting them to a compact city model, and save on its running costs. This process causes further difficulties for creating new green spaces in urban areas. Moreover, the demolition of vacant industrial sites and abandoned rail facilities in downtown areas often does not mean the creation of new UGS but instead can lead to more intense urban development or, worse, the disappearance of an existing UGS (Swanwick et al. 2003). Unfortunately, privately owned UGSs do not represent valid substitutes for public UGSs, considering the tendency of the former to transform themselves into tomorrow’s residential and commercial development plans (Bates and Santerre 2001). Furthermore, despite a strong demand for open public spaces in the suburbs, public spending on creating recreational areas often seems to be lower than in historical city centers (Santerre 1985). Considering all these factors, the prospect of rapid growth of UGSs seems to be limited. Ceteris paribus, a number of studies have suggested that highly accessible UGSs are capable of reduce disease in urban dwellers – such as cardiovascular diseases (Tamosiunas et al. 2014), mental illness (Annerstedt et al. 2012) – as well as mortality (Gascon et al. 2016). Other scholars, including Hartig et al. (2014), have highlighted both the direct relationship between accessible UGS proximity and physical activity and the healing potential of UGSs (Lee and Maheswaran 2011). In Japan, inverse relationships between health levels and urban residential conditions in megacities with fewer UGSs than rural areas have been found by Tanaka et al. (1996). For the purposes of this book, it is sufficient to remember that a considerable amount of city dwellers do not have easy access to UGSs and as a result are exposed to avoidable health risks.

76

3 Rural hamlets: Basic requirements for setting up the hospitality model

3.2.7 Air pollution (AP) A healthy adult inhales and exhales on average 10–12,000 liters of air, according to multiple sources. Thus, air quality represents an important environmental aspect to be considered when evaluating the quality of life tout court. Nowadays, despite more countries taking action to face the rise in air pollution-related noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), an impressive share of 9 out of 10 people worldwide breathe polluted air (WHO 2018a). Moreover, according to the World Health Organization’s Global Ambient Air Quality Database (WHO 2018b), more than 80% of people living in urban areas that monitor air pollution are exposed to air quality levels that exceed the WHO limits. Despite all the regions of the world being affected, populations in low-income cities are especially afflicted. In European countries, for instance, the European Commission has monitored the attitudes of EU-28 citizens towards the environment since 2008. According to the 2018 Special Barometer Edition reporting the opinions of 27,881 respondents, almost all (94%) EU citizens rank protecting the environment as fairly or very important. Climate change and air pollution represent the two most important environmental issues, at 51% and 46%, respectively. Moreover, 47% of respondents, representing the relative majority of EU citizens, think that air quality has deteriorated over the last ten years (Eurobarometer 2018). Air pollution can be studied by observing particulate matter (PM), also called particle pollution, which can be described as a mixture of solid particles and liquid droplets found in the air. Since the first decade of the 2000s, a vast amount of studies have highlighted morbidity and mortality rates associated with PM