Itineraries of the Heart

Italian Quality Mark & Experiential Tourism Product Club

Project created by BITESP – International Experiential Tourism Exchange

Itineraries of the Heart (Itinerari del Cuore) is a project conceived by Bitesp – International Experiential Tourism Exchange of Venice, aimed at promoting and developing experiential tourism.
The initiative is aimed at all localities and the extended supply chain of companies and operators connected to the tourism sector, in particular: municipalities, villages, local authorities, local development organizations and associations, tour operators, tour operators, travel agencies, operators incoming, hotels and accommodation facilities, museums, restaurants, experience providers, agri-food and wine and food companies, wine operators, craft companies, commercial activities, etc.

All realities that intend to join together to enhance and promote their tourist assets and related tourist and sustainable experiences, optimizing the qualitative offer of services and tourist offers in the various territorial contexts and optimizing marketing strategies for the promo-commercialization of experiential tourism.

The project includes two important initiatives:

the creation of the Quality Mark of Experiential and Sustainable Tourism
the creation of the related Product Club

The Italian Quality Mark of Itineraries of the Heart is the tool designed to create a quality standard format in the field of experiential tourism, capable of increasing the competitiveness and level of attraction of the local tourist offer, ideal for localities and operators interested in enhancing the locality as a tourist destination and to the development of the tourist activity. The initiative is aimed at realities that belong to the extended tourist chain, localities, tour operators, craft and commercial companies, agri-food companies, etc.

The Product Club, on the other hand, represents the aggregation tool of operators adhering to the Quality Mark who join forces to achieve a specific promotional objective, optimizing marketing strategies, in order to encourage commercial development, but also to offer the advantages of the network and create synergies and collaborations between the various operators, to create the right balance between tourism, experiences and sustainable, the environment and the economy, to guarantee quality tourism.

To acquire the quality certification, the requesting operators must respect the qualitative prerogatives provided for by the Quality Mark Regulations in which the theme of experiential tourism, the defense of the tourist heritage, the artistic-cultural emergencies, the landscape and the protection of the environment.

The Quality Mark has the objective of making the participating operators undertake a path aimed at quality, to operate in the tourism sector in harmony with the respect of the laws in force, of nature and the environment, in particular the creation of tourist packages experiential, environmental and landscape conservation, sustainable tourism development attentive to the recovery and improvement of resources.

Every operator interested in participating in the Quality Mark and Product Club project sends his application to obtain the quality certification. The scientific commission of Itinerari del Cuore, made up of expert consultants of experiential tourism, examines and evaluates the candidacy of the operator based on the Disciplinary which sets out the rules that must be followed in order to acquire the certification.
In the event of a positive evaluation by the commission, the operator is issued the relative certification of the Quality Mark which is valid for three years, renewable upon expiry.

Itinerari del Cuore is a constantly evolving project, always being updated, to allow tour operators and localities to undertake a path of qualitative improvement, in step with the themes and needs of experiential tourism.

Operational advantages of Itineraries of the Heart

The operational advantages of the Quality Mark and the Product Club concern all the protagonists of the aggregation: tour operators, destinations and tourists. The goal is to aggregate Italian experiential tourism operators under a Quality Mark which certifies the quality of the tourist services offered to guarantee the tourist and the related Product Club which optimizes marketing and promotion strategies, improving the competitive position of the operators participating tourists.
The operators adhering to the project will benefit from the marketing and communication services envisaged in the planned tourist promo-marketing programme.

For Tour Operators, the project offers the following advantages:

Unity is strength, increase commercial potential: The advantages for tourism companies deriving from belonging to a Quality Mark and a Product Club are many, but among all, stand out with a certified quality tourist offer and Improving the effectiveness of promo-marketing activities with network marketing and communication strategies, to increase business, are the most immediate and gratifying advantages, both in the national and international markets.

Create a synergy between the aggregate operators
Increase the possibilities of promomarketing

For Destinations, the Product Club offers the following benefits:

Creation of a positive image with a recognizable Quality Mark: Itinerari del Cuore presents itself to the tourist market as a quality mark which unites under the same identity a set of operators and tourist offers of guaranteed quality, for the tourist synonymous with quality and safety.
Collaboration between all local operators
Enhancement of local and regional resources
Tourist deseasonalization of the locality
Promote the commercial development of local economic operators

For tourists, on the other hand, the advantages offered by Itinerari del Cuore are:

Take advantage of guaranteed quality experiential tourist offers: The quality guarantee of a Quality Mark and a Product Club certainly has more attraction than a tourist offer proposed by a single operator, because it is synonymous with a guarantee in terms of personalization of service, reliability and quality control.
Use of innovative services
Wide choice of destinations, structures and tourist experiences.