Opportunities and Potentialities of Industrial Tourism Based on New Experiences in the Puglia Region, Italy

Today, developing new business models is a widespread practice, which consists of identifying and implementing innovation, to create value for customers, support growth, and promote access to new markets. In particular, this phenomenon also involves the tourism and hospitality industries; in these sectors, innova¬tions may concern products (e.g., new hotel services or new attractions), sources of supply (new niche opera¬tors), new markets, and new ways of organizing businesses. In particular, tourism has experienced expansion and diversification, making it one of the largest econom¬ic sectors in the world. In this context, industrial tourism represents a possible development of new business models in the tourism sector. Industrial tourism can be defined as visits to sites that enable residents and tour¬ists to learn about operational activities through visits to, and tours of, active businesses and corporate mu¬seums founded by companies. Industrial tourism can help active businesses improve their corporate image, while also promoting local areas where the production unit is located. World Tourism Organization has put its attention to industrial tourism since it is a new way to promote the destinations through historical, artistic, and cultural heritage, archaeological sites, archives, business museums, eco-museums, and the opening of companies to the public when the companies decide to open the doors to visitors during their daily activities. Through an industrial tourism approach, there are innovative ways to enjoy a destination, both as a rediscov¬ery of industrial archeology and as an awareness process of knowledge on the production processes in the past or the present. In this way, the aim could be promoting industrial tourism through sites of industrial ar¬chaeology (linked to buildings that are symbols of the past manufacturing of the territory), industrial produc¬tion, crafts, and traditional production processes (wine, beer, pasta, bread, dairy products). These sites should be able to excite, to tell a story, a city, or a trade, to transfer the identity and history of the local area, but also its habits and traditions. Industrial tourism is a growing phenomenon in Italy, especially in Puglia, which is an Italian area, character¬ized by relevant historical, artistic, cultural, and natural heritage. This heritage takes shape in different expres¬sions connected with industrial tourism too, like craftsmanship, sculpture, restoration, dressmaking, food and wine products (especially bread, wine, oil, and beer). Through this approach, the “Made in Italy” brand would become more attractive in these territories, as well as a way to develop new markets and increase the marketing of local products. This aspect matches with better promotion of companies and industrial archeologic sites (history, supply chains, production processes, places, tools, territory, and products), as well as the lifestyle, the productions, and the people who identify the territory. Our work aims at conceptualizing industrial tourism, through an analysis of the emerging business models, both from a literature review and some cases and concrete experiences. More specifically, concerning the con¬crete experiences, the focus will be on three cases in Puglia. In the empirical analysis, we will study the devel¬opment of industrial tourism projects, considered offered services, target audiences, promotion techniques, strategic choices made by management, and the potential effects. The research method is based on multiple case studies, through analysis, direct observation, and research interviews with the people involved in indus¬trial tourism projects. The expected results of this work are the development of a framework of opportunities that the promotion of industrial tourism could favor in a local tourism context: the businesses of a local area could have greater visibility and some activities could be more easily marketed, increasing new sales forms and new markets (for example e-commerce). Moreover, this new kind of tourism also implies new challenges for the companies involved in industrial tour¬ism processes: new staff is necessary, and it should be able to interface with tourists; it should be involved in welcoming and organizing tourism events, thus creating new professional skills, but potentially new jobs too. The tourism companies, like travel agencies, could be involved in these processes because they could have new specific targets, interested in experiencing this form of tourism, which could favor the participation of organized and school groups.