Balancing valorization and preservation in UNESCO sites
Managing cultural heritage in luxury tourism contexts represents one of the most complex challenges of our time. The Amalfi Coast, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, perfectly embodies this tension between the need to preserve a unique cultural landscape and the pressure of increasingly intense tourist flows.
During the Positano Forum, held at Casa Orfeo of the Wilhelm Kempff Cultural Foundation, international experts addressed the phenomenon of overtourism and its impact on residents’ quality of life and visitors’ own experience. The meeting, coordinated by researchers from throughout Campania, highlighted how this issue requires innovative approaches that combine environmental sustainability, cultural preservation, and economic development.
The overtourism phenomenon: definitions and impacts
The World Tourism Organization defines overtourism as “the impact of mass tourism on a destination that excessively and negatively influences the perceived quality of life of citizens and the quality of visitors’ experiences.” In the case of the Amalfi Coast, this phenomenon takes on particular characteristics related to the territory’s fragility and seasonal concentration of flows.
During the forum, it emerged how the causes of overtourism are multiple and interconnected: the exponential growth of low-cost flights, social media amplification that instantly makes famous locations unprepared to handle large flows, and especially the persistence of a mentality that automatically equates increased visitors with economic growth, ignoring environmental and social impact.
Toward a sustainable cultural tourism model
In this context, the importance of a new professional figure emerges: the cultural facilitator capable of mediating between heritage preservation needs and economic valorization requirements. This figure must possess interdisciplinary competencies ranging from deep territorial knowledge to the ability to manage complex group dynamics, from aesthetic sensitivity to understanding tourism’s economic mechanisms.
Sensory experience as a cultural education tool
One of the most innovative strategies that emerged during the debate concerns the use of sensory experience to transform tourist visits from passive consumption to moments of authentic cultural education. Through pathways that engage all senses – from viewing terraced landscapes to olfactory stimulation by Mediterranean vegetation fragrances – it’s possible to create a deeper connection between visitor and territory.
In this context, facilitation through aromatherapy and conscious use of fragrances represents a particularly effective tool for anchoring territorial experience in visitors’ olfactory memory. Essential oils extracted from local flora – from coastal terrace lemons to Mediterranean aromatic herbs – become vectors of sensory storytelling that transform simple landscape observation into deep immersion in the place’s cultural identity.
This multisensory approach not only enriches the tourist experience but contributes to slowing consumption rhythms, favoring that “slow tourism” which represents one of the main alternatives to the hit-and-run model responsible for overtourism.
International cooperation as a model
The Positano Forum emphasized the importance of international cultural cooperation, particularly between Italy and Germany, as a model for addressing common challenges in the cultural heritage sector. The Wilhelm Kempff Foundation represents a virtuous example of how cultural institutions can become catalysts for international dialogue and laboratories for innovative solutions.
Casa Orfeo increasingly configures itself as an applied research center where theory and practice meet to generate sustainable approaches to heritage management. The presence of international researchers and continuity of initiatives guarantee the competency exchange necessary to address issues that transcend national borders.
Future perspectives: from quantity to quality
The debate highlighted the need for a paradigmatic shift that moves attention from quantity to quality of tourist experience. This implies investments in professional training, development of specialized competencies, and creation of new professional figures capable of interpreting contemporary needs for more conscious tourism.
[Special thanks to the Wilhelm Kempff Cultural Foundation for inviting me to participate in this important moment of reflection and international dialogue.]