Tourism, in Doing Business 2021 (Univ. Lumsa) innovation helps post Covid recovery
With summer just around the corner, the desire of Italians to return to normality and to holidays is growing. Between the need to travel safely and the desire for (cautious) freedom, that of 2021 it will be the summer of slow tourism, perhaps longer holidays, and often in secondary locations far from traditional tourist routes. It was discussed in the fifth edition of Doing business in Italy, an annual conference organized byLumsa University in collaboration with the Alumni Association, which this year, on 6 and 7 May, dealt with the role of innovation in supporting companies and the world of work in the post Covid era.
THE RESTART AFTER THE 2020 CRISIS– The expectations of operators in the sector are growing, almost completely at a standstill for more than a year, waiting to leave safely after the terrible summer 2020. According to a budget drawn up by Confturismo Confcommercio and Assoturismo Confesercenti, in fact, it is estimated that the losses in the first summer following the lockdown were at least 100 billion, with 65 million fewer visitors than the previous year and a sharp decline in the hotel sector (-32.6%). For this reason it was necessary to rethink how we would have traveled after the pandemic, as one of the startups that took part in the debate on Fare Impresa, Monugram, did, with a platform where to meet the needs of travelers– safety, quick assistance, attention to specific needs – with offers customizable of tour operators: on the one hand, the need to satisfy new needs created after the pandemic, on the other hand, to help those tour operators, such as the classic travel agencies, already suffering for several years, to be competitive on the market.
DIGITAL IN SUPPORT OF HUMAN EXPERIENCE- The value of digital as a support for companies affected by the crisis, however, is not limited to the tourism sector. In fact, during Doing an Enterprise, the experiences of Danila De Stefano, the psychologist who made the online psychotherapy sessions with Unobravo; of Schoolr, the platform for Cristiano Scarapucci’s online lessons; and of Gives, the so-called neighborhood Amazon co-founded by Jacopo Gambuti, which allowed dozens of small merchants to continue serving their customers during the 2020 lockdown.
Without forgetting work and its evolution: the necessary characteristics of resilience and antifragility cited by Fabio Moioli (Microsoft), and the passion which Michele Alessi dedicated the Buon lavoro Foundation. It was therefore the turn of sustainability, another great focus of the conference: from fashion made in Italy with Flavia La Rocca, passing through the initiatives of Barilla told by Leonardo Mirone; to conclude with the commitment of Enel Group, the first sustainable company in the world, with the intervention of the Chief Innovation Officer Ernesto Ciorra.
And precisely by connecting to what Enel’s innovation manager told about the fundamental role of the boss in making a company truly sustainable, the Rector Francesco Bonini closed the proceedings by thanking the speakers, teachers and students, making an appointment at the 2022 edition of Fare Impresa : “The head of the company pushes for change, and in this I feel called into question. All the interlocutors in these two days pushed us to confront the perspective of the realism of the principles: we need to have clear ideas and the ability to apply them in an operational and sustainable way.”