“Seaside tourism represents an important part of the tourism sector of the Calabria region. The appropriate and favorable environmental conditions can absolutely favor the correct development of seaside tourism and at the same time offer job opportunities”. This is the premise of theCouncilor Giovanni Calabrese in the meeting held at the Department of Territory and Environmental Protection with the general director of the Environment Department, Salvatore Sevilleand the advisory committee composed of four representatives of the seaside associations and a representation of the mayors of the five Calabrian provinces. A meeting to address the management and development of the maritime state property in our Region, with a view to enhancing the tourist offer and protecting the environment. During the meeting, the critical issues encountered in the current season were addressed and the necessary suggestions were listened to in order to be able to plan the next summer seasons in the correct way.
Director Siviglia briefly illustrated the initiatives undertaken by the Department of Territory and Environmental Protection, in implementation of the political guidelines expressed by the current Regional Council, included in the program of integrated interventions for the sustainable use of coastal marine areas. To this end, various activities have been launched involving various subjects in various capacities, the hydraulic surveillance of Calabria Verde, Arpacal which guarantees its presence throughout the territory also through a mobile laboratory, Sorical in order to monitor the regular functioning of the purification plants for some stretches of coast, the Anton Dorhn Zoological Station is present with a mobile laboratory in order to monitor the health of the river channels. Furthermore, this year too, the sea cleaning boats equipped with drones and underwater ROVs are active. In support of all the forces deployed, the regional “Control Room” makes drones available for any environmental monitoring. It is clear that all the actions implemented by the Calabria region are aimed at protecting the environment with particular attention to coastal areas in order to enhance and guarantee our heritage, thus promoting the activities also started by the bathing establishments themselves. In addition, the Department has provided contributions for the cleaning of beaches intended for free bathing in coastal municipalities, in addition to additional funding for the construction of mobile walkways, equipment to improve access to the free beach by disabled people; in addition, an important project has been developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice aimed at employing people subjected to alternative measures to detention entrusted, engaged in restorative justice paths with socially useful work, for the manual cleaning of the beaches of coastal municipalities that are part of the Natura 2000 network. Finally, a collaboration with the managers of the bathing establishments and with the coastal municipalities has been hoped for to ensure the cleanliness and decorum of the beaches and the sea, through the specific reporting of critical issues on the “DifendiAmbiente” portal.
It was also pointed out the important measures of the Regional Council, on the input of President Occhiuto, regarding the development of seaside tourism and that is the support to coastal municipalities for the implementation of the Municipal Beach Plan, considering that it is embarrassing that in Calabria 50% of the municipalities – including important and renowned tourist locations – have not come into compliance by equipping themselves with the fundamental and strategic urban planning tool that could help limit the Bolkestein directive, as per the address act of the Regional Government, regarding the extent of the “scarcity” of the resource.
The commitment of the Regional Administration led by President Occhiuto – said Calabrese – aims to enhance the “sea” resource, as a driving force for the development of the tourist offer, always combined with environmental protection and with the professional and work opportunities that this Region can offer. Precisely for this reason, Councilor Calabrese has proposed and shared with the categories the need to overcome the “restrictive” regulation that seasonal activities can carry out their activity in Calabria only between June 1st and September 30th. Precisely on his direction, the Environment Department will start the process to allow the seasonal period to be extended, thus giving the possibility, where the conditions are right and with prior agreement with the Municipal Administrations, to be able to carry out seasonal seaside tourism activities in a time frame presumably between April 15th and October 15th. The proposal has found favorable feedback from the representatives of the categories and local authorities and will be the subject of a final evaluation in the meeting that, as already anticipated by Councilor Calabrese, will be called for September. Finally, the Councilor assured constant attention to the issues that have emerged, promoting an ongoing dialogue, also with local communities, with the commitment to schedule further meetings in the coming months.