Coastal and marine tourism: The employment system in Northern Latium at the time of the economic crisis

Abstract

The ending of the global economic crisis has left some sectors of the economy in the need to start-offwith a more efficient and more competitive offer of the pre-crisis period. Rome offers urban and cultural tourism that presents problems of over-crowding and risk of banalisation of the product. Thus, owing to all the tourism, Rome managed to overcome the crisis period without much difficulty. However, the situation on the coast near Rome is still problematic. It extends along the sea between the Fiumicino Airport and the port of Civitavecchia. Coastal and marine tourism products have undergone major trans-formations, and to overcome the crisis, a pro-found renewal work is required. There is a need for a different regional development or-ganisation to update supply and offer new products to guests. Up until now, coastal en-trepreneurs had only considered their territory and their business. A possible solution to the problem is suggested by greater integration between the coast and inland areas. In the case of Lazio, these areas are rich in tangible cul-tural goods, as a result of various civilizations that developed over the centuries, and intan-gible cultural goods that are the result of sed-imentation of different cultures. The situation of coastal and marine tourism on the north coast of Lazio is considered in relation to the development of the sector in the rest of Italy. The variables under consideration are those of the tourism sector in the period 2001-2011 to check the effects of the global economic crisis on employment at each individual municipality. The analysis examines all municipalities in order to confirm how the crisis has had con-sequences, particularly on the coastal com-munes. Only the communes of the coast are taken into consideration. The indexation of occupants in tourism in comparison to the residents shows a clear difference between the municipalities in northern Italy and those in southern Italy. However, the study of the em-ployment situation in the Latium region shows a lesser presence of occupiers in the coastal areas where the supply is potentially concen-trated. In the seven communes of the North Coast, the situation is even more wor-rying, as it is clear that many of the activities are carried out by companies that are located outside the area, as the ones inside are inade-quate and unable to compete at national and international levels. Hence, there is a need to create networks of companies where coopera-tion and better organisation can enable them to be more competitive.