The Role of Museums in the Development of Sustainable Tourism in Calabria Between Infrastructural Deficiencies and New Communication Technologies: Focus on the Amarelli Company Museum and on the MuSaBa Museum Park

Introduction

According to the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) “sustainable tourism development meets the current needs of tourists and host regions, while protecting and improving prospects for the future. It must integrate the management of all resources in such a way that economic, social and aesthetic needs can be met, while maintaining cultural integrity, essential ecological processes, biological diversity and living systems. Tourist products are those that act in harmony with the environment, the community and local cultures”. In other words, the optimal use of environmental resources through the protection of natural heritage and biodiversity, and respect for the socio-cultural identity of the host communities through the preservation of traditions and the enhancement of cultural heritage, represent the indispensable elements to be laid at the basis of any process that wants to aim at the development of sustainable tourism. A process that, in order to take shape, must adopt a strategy that foresees the involvement of all local actors (institutions, economic operators, associations, etc.) to be shared by them and, therefore, feasible. The role of the museum is placed within a complex strategy, in the absence of which it is difficult to imagine that a given territory could play an important role in the competition of global tourism, and, at the same time, in responding to an increasingly widespread and emphasized demand also by the current health emergency of Covid-19, of a tourism more attentive to the dynamics of development of the place itself. The museum, a place of culture which, with its material and immaterial testimonies, is called upon to safeguard, manage and enhance the cultural heritage of a specific territorial context. A task entrusted to museums that can be carried out efficiently must rely on the best possible use of the tools at its disposal. The analyzes on the development of sustainable tourism and on the ability to make museums real tourist attractions cannot therefore ignore changes in society and in the behavior of individuals themselves. Changes that have taken place as a result of the electronic revolution, the so-called third industrial revolution, which has practically changed the way people use goods and services, making it necessary to adapt their technology on the supply side. Changes made further necessary in the face of the Covid-19 emergency which has practically shocked the whole world, upsetting the life and work habits of billions of people. Lockdown periods that have shown how technologies are really the only tools with which to face crisis situations such as the one we are experiencing. Tools capable of allowing entire economic sectors to remain functional with innovative working methods, even managing to have positive impacts on the climate of cities and on costs for companies. The digital world insinuates itself strongly and becomes the only tool truly capable of facing the challenges of the future. A revolution that will have to materialize through the spread of 5G and the development of digital skills now necessary to efficiently manage any sector of the economy, including the tourism sector that has suffered most of all from the negative economic effects due to the health crisis of this long period. Digital and innovative technological tools to relaunch reasonable tourism through a modernization of cultural heritage management infrastructures. In this general context, the role of the museum also becomes an object of transformation, from a traditional and now outdated conception that sees the museum as a place of conservation and exhibition of works of art and objects of historical and / or scientific importance to a more modern conception that frames the museum as a place of culture capable of evolving and improving thanks to a continuous interaction with its public. A museum capable of innovating its image to reach a wider audience through the use of new technologies. The chapter analyzes the information and communication processes adopted by two museums, unique of their kind, present in the Calabria region and capable of attracting a good percentage of international tourism. These are museums that have made the singularity of their respective projects the weapon of their success and the use of digital communication as a great ally through which to spread their mission around the world. The author's goal is to focus on how an adequate use of all those technologies that scientific progress has made available is the only way to fully enhance the cultural heritage of the territories, for the success of museums who deal with it and for the development of sustainable tourism. ICT and the use of specific profiles and professional skills have become essential tools for any museum actually does not intend to remain isolated but, on the contrary, who cares about not only his own reputation in an increasingly competitive industry but has desire to grasp and contribute to the great challenge towards the sustainability of the future. After the pandemic, we will be faced with a new scenario and it is necessary that even museums do not get caught unprepared and that they are able to adopt in time the most appropriate tools and strategies to carry out that task that has increasingly required them: not only a testimony of past traditions and culture but an integral part of the communities, capable of becoming places of participation and social inclusion. The web and social platforms used as digital intermediation tools at the service of the dissemination of culture. The ability to reach a potentially infinite audience and to intrigue targets that are also different from those that one would expect, to the point of physically dragging travelers to places of culture. On this basis, the following work tries to highlight the potential of digital in the tourism/cultural field. Through the analysis of the management and promotion activities of the Amarelli company museum and the MuSaBa park-laboratory, it tries to provide a reflection on the advantages that can derive from it in terms of a real enhancement of the cultural heritage and a better distribution over time and in space of tourist flows even for a 'geographical area characterized by obvious infrastructural deficiencies. Museums, whose role has profoundly evolved over time by adapting to the new needs of society, can play a strategic role in the development of responsible tourism, especially in some contexts with a significant cultural heritage which is not fully exploited. The author, through an in-depth study of the two museums, intends to contribute to strengthening the hypothesis, already widely supported in literature, according to which new technologies represent a fundamental driving force in the direction of the growth of sustainable tourism. The work closes with ideas for what, according to the author, should be the research perspective in the years to come.