Wednesday 15 December 2021 in Chambery, the Closing Event of the project was held, moderated by the director of the Food Journalism Festival, Massimiliano Borgia TDG TOURISME DU GOÛT / TOURISM OF TASTE funded by the European Union - Alcotra-Interreg VA France-Italy 2014-2020 Program, on Axis 3: Territory attractiveness - Specific objective 3.1: Natural and cultural heritage, increase sustainable tourism in the ALCOTRA territory - which involved the Alpine valleys in the province of Turin (Val Pellice, Val Chisone, Val Germanasca, Val di Susa, Valli di Lanzo, Valli Orco and Soana, Valchiusella) Savoy, Haute-Savoie (Albanais - Pays du Rhône, Arve - Faucigny - Genevois, Bauges , Giffre - Grand Massif, Lac d'Annecy, Massif des Aravis - Bornes, Maurienne, Pays du Mont Blanc, Région de Chambéry - Combe de Savoie, Région du Lac du Bourget, Tarentaise).
The program started on January 15, 2018 and will end on December 31, 2021. The Festival will address these issues in its next edition.
Il project was developed by 5 Italian partners: the project leader, Turismo Alpmed srl, the ATL Turismo Torino e Provincia, the Consortium for Training, Innovation and Quality (CFIQ) of Pinerolo, the ASCOM Confcommercio Torino e Provincia, the Escartons Local Action Group and Waldensian Valleys (GAL EVV) ed a French partner fair booking.
- goals: to strengthen the attractiveness and identity of the cross-border territory through the enhancement of local agricultural products and the training of restaurateurs on the correct use in terms of transformation to allow visitors to savor a quality local cuisine; bringing innovation in the technological field for a correct networking of the gastronomic offer; create tourism products for the promotion of the respective territories and gastronomic excellences; exchange good practices and recipes between restaurateurs in the French and Italian territory across borders.
Some training activities planned, which were intended for catering professionals (both in the kitchen and in the dining room) and hotel hospitality with the support of the skills of the chefs of the two sides of the Alps, have been revised as a result of the epidemiological emergency from COVID 19; the training part was developed with distance learning.
The training actions, by the CFIQ, aimed at students of courses in the tourism-hotel sector on the issues of sustainable tourism and marketing were carried out partly in person and partly online, while the cooking workshops were provided in person , also with the help of educational-multimedia products.
The calendar of lunches in mountain restaurants and dinners on Turin trams called "Montagne à la carte", which had the aim of enhancing the mountain restaurant offer and bringing it to the attention of citizens and tourists, was designed by Turismo Torino and Province over 2 years, but again due to Covid 19 it was re-scheduled in 1 year only, in summer 2021 in the mountains and in autumn 2021 in Turin, with good public success.
THE LAG Escartons and Valli Valdesi took care of the creation of a welcome card and the mapping of typical products.
The project and the results achieved were highlighted during the Closing Event in Chambery which took place in the Conference Room of the Hotel Maison Rouge, with the partners and those who collaborated on the project present.
"The Turismo del Gusto / Tourisme du Goût project assumes an important position in the context of cross-border collaboration between Italy and France - says Luigi Barbero, President of Turismo AlpMed, the leading body of the project. It is the tangible demonstration of how European contributions can be used for the development of the tourist economy of a destination, generating the leverage effect these interventions aspire to. On this occasion, the territory and the bodies involved demonstrated their ability to innovate and network ".
"We are satisfied with the results obtained by the European project Turismo del Gusto / Tourisme du Goût - stresses Marcella Gaspardone, Manager of Tourism Turin and Province - both in the Alpine valleys of Turin and on the historic trams of Turin and we believe that the mountain areas with their traditional recipes and their typical products can become a destination for tourists of taste who are always looking for new destinations ".
“As Ascom Confcommercio we were happy to participate in the Turismo Del Gusto / Tourism du Gout Alcotra Project. The companies we represent strongly believe in the synergies of the territories and in food and wine tourism, underlines the President Ascom Confcommercio Torino e Provincia Maria Luisa Cup, The Alcotra Route was aimed at improving the attractiveness of the territory and the food and wine offer of the restaurants in the cross-border areas with an exchange of good practices between the cuisine of the two territories. And our mountains on the French and Italian sides represent cultural, landscape and food and wine excellences ".
