Tourism delivery. Future scenarios and design perspective starting from Matera

The pandemic created a new world. This paper reflects on the consequences of the decrease of both tourism and over-tourism on heritage tourism sites. The United Nations World Tourism Organization defines over-tourism as the “impact of tourism on a destination, that excessively influences perceived quality of life of citizens and/or quality of visitors experiences in a negative way” (2018), and defines strategies to limit visitors’ numbers. We describe a newly emergent phase called post-overtourism, a radical utopia where the tourism experience transits from the real world to a virtual one. We examine the consequences, and transform what we know of the tourism experience. The golden era of tourism may have temporarily ended, but hope exists for a more balanced future approach. In a world pandemic at least two scenarios arise that will affect differently the tourism sector. - In the first scenario the pandemic ceases in a reasonable length of time. The differences among destination countries will exist in terms of the vaccination percentages of their citizens, the possibility of vaccination passports, the degree of the relaxation of local and international travel rules, the implementation of additional health measures for travellers and passengers in order to access transport and the presence of a loyal clientele. - In the second scenario the pandemic lingers, and uncertainties and restrictions remain in place for a long period of time. Changes to tourism as a result of Covid-19 will occur unevenly in space and time throughout the world. This is the scenario we analyse in details in the course of this paper. The Italian city of Matera’s image has undergone great transformation. Seventy years ago Matera was called the shame of Italy. However, by 1993 UNESCO had listed Matera as a World Heritage site. In 2019 the European Union declared Matera a European Capital of Culture. Matera became one of the most popular tourist destinations in Italy in consonance with the transformation of the urban image. In 2020 the Covid pandemic affected Basilicata dramatically, especially if considered in reference to the steady tourism growth of previous years and to the exponential increase in tourist presence in 2019. By April of 2020 the number of visitors in Matera decreased by around 90%. The Sassi, normally the historic center of the city, emptied. The silence made clear all of the contradictions of the relatively quick depopulation of the area induced by overtourism in previous years. At the some time, we can envision a rapid development of innovative technologies applied to the tourism experience, and the implementation within scenario number 2. In this scenario our living spaces could change more or less radically. The changes concern both domestic and public spaces, and relate to the pervasiveness of the immersive technologies of virtual and augmented reality used. The architectural profession will also change. Architects will combine designs of both physical and virtual reality in a hybrid form. Starting from the case of Matera, the paper aims to explore three design perspective: Domestic travel room; Proximity travel room and Heritage travel room.