InCittà Bari 2024, the city's tourism promotion project presented.

The project was presented in the council room of Palazzo di Città “InCity Bari 2024”, promoted by the tourism promotion association InCity Bari and sponsored, among others, by the Municipality of Bari, Municipio V, Metropolitan City of Bari, Regional Council of Puglia, Consular Corps of Puglia, Basilicata and Molise, Confindustria Bari – BAT (Tourism section), Bari Chamber of Commerce, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Port System Authority of the Southern Adriatic Sea, Ferrotramviaria spa, AQP and the Basilica San Nicola.

The project idea is to create a synergy between the local tourism sector in order to promote places of culture, the museum centers present in the city and useful services; through the creation of a multifunctional map, both in paper format - available at info points, participating accommodation facilities, trains and taxis - and digital, which can be consulted on the website www.incittabari.it, which is consequently structured as a container of cultural, social-touristic and commercial information about the Apulian capital.

At the meeting with the press, in the presence of the municipal councilor for Culture, the president of InCittà Luciano Saracino, the prior of the Basilica of San Nicola Father Giovanni Distante, the president of Confindustria Bari-BAT and honorary consul of the Netherlands Maximus Solomon, the head of sports services of Telebari Enzo Tamborra, the president of the Port System Authority of the Southern Adriatic Sea Ugo Patroni Griffi and the vice-rector of the University of Bari Grazia Paola Nicchia.

Media partners of the project are La Gazzetta del Mezzogiorno, Telebari, Radiobari, Pepe Graphic, Bar Project Academy and Under The Star International Film Festival.

"This project – explained Luciano Saracino – was born from our belief that Bari, with its culture and its thousand-year history, has the right to be valued and represented in the world to the best of its qualities. The multifunctional map, paper and digital, the essence of the project, is complete and easy to consult, and proves to be an indispensable tool for both internal and external users, namely tourists, who for years have been the lifeblood of the city itself. For this reason we have called upon the best energies of the territory, the institutions, the cultural actors and the entrepreneurship of excellence to best develop a sector, that of tourism, which is at the center of the daily life of the people of Bari, and ultimately, create a synergy between culture, specifically the city's museum centers, and services useful to tourists, such as public transportation and accommodation facilities".

Father Giovanni Dtante focused on the importance that the Patron Saint has for our community: “That of Saint Nicholas – he recalled – is one of the most important itineraries contemplated by the project. Our Basilica is not simply an architectural example of Apulian Romanesque art but for a thousand years it has been a symbolic reality of the cultural identity of Bari and, together with the Nicolaian Museum and the Archive, it deserves the utmost attention of historians and scholars”.

Enzo Tamborra pointed out that "Telebari television is a heritage of Bari and for half a century it has been close to Bari and the people of Bari, providing competent and precise information on everything that happens in the city every day, trying to keep up with the times. We enthusiastically joined this initiative because we want to record and analyze the changes in a city that, until recently, was certainly not considered a tourist destination, and that now, in the streets, sees people of all nationalities mixing together".

Maximus Solomon commented that "we industrialists are trying to intercept the explosion of tourists' interest in Bari and its beauties, a city that is rapidly evolving but has nevertheless remained true and authentic. The interactive map will certainly help hoteliers to provide useful and detailed information to tourists on the places of greatest interest".

Ugo Patroni Griffi noted that "many tourists, cruise passengers and travellers who reach the port of Bari - about 600 thousand people a year - despite the existence of technology use paper maps to orient themselves, probably because they are considered more intuitive to consult. It is therefore appropriate to provide the traveller with a physical tool and, among other things, we, the people of Bari, invented the maps when, after the translation of the bones of Saint Nicholas, it became necessary to find a way to let the pilgrims know where they had been placed".

He concluded Grazia Paola Nicchia, highlighting that “Our University is closely linked to the world of tourism and offers its contribution by providing, for example, in the study plans, three-year and master's degree courses that focus on both the humanities and economics, as well as post-graduate training courses, master's degrees and short master's degrees. Last year we also signed an agreement with the Regional Tourism Agency specifically to intercept the training needs of the tourism sector”.