(Finance) – Intesa Sanpaolo encourages and accompanies the integrated development of the agri-food and tourism supply chains which in Puglia express peculiarities capable of translating into an example of success potentially replicable on a national scale: in a meeting with local entrepreneurs which took place today in Ostuni the peculiarities were presented of the “Puglia model”, based on the integration of a renewed and sustainable tourist offer with the numerous food and wine, cultural and naturalistic realities of a territory which in just a few years has seen intense and consistent growth of national and international attractiveness, moving from an exclusively seaside approach to that of a multifaceted tourist destination.
Precisely the connection with the tourism industry has allowed the agri-food sector to seize new business opportunities linked to identifying products that can easily be combined with the accommodation proposal. THEn Puglia, in fact, for the approximately 190,000 small and medium-sized enterprises in the sector, which employ 148,000 employeesti (first Italian region in the sector by number of employees), a growth in turnover is estimated to be significantly higher than the Italian average, with an increase in exports of 130% in the period 2008-2023, driven by the excellent supply chains of the territory (oil, wine and wheat products).
Puglia is the fourth Italian destination for food and wine tourism and this allowed the creation of a new record year in terms of tourist presences, better than the Italian average and the entire South, with a figure even higher than that recorded in 2023. Intesa Sanpaolo supported this growth, financing the investments regional to the agri-food and tourism sectors for almost 2 billion euros in the period 2020 – June 2024.
To enhance further the synergies between tourism and agriculture in Puglia, the bank has set up a ceiling of 1 billion euros to encourage redevelopment processes of hotel and agricultural structures, digitalisation, development of supply chains and energy independence. An intervention that falls within the scope of the “Your future is our business” program, which allocates 120 billion euros until 2026 to
investments, and which confirms the commitment made by the Group in July in Taormina on the occasion of the launch of ad hoc tools for tourism, including 10 billion euros of new credit, of which 3 billion destined for southern companies.
The measures implemented by the bank – explains the note – were illustrated in the splendid setting of the Masseria Santa Lucia during a conference in which, for Intesa Sanpaolo, Stefano Barrese, head of the Banca dei Territori Division, Gregorio De Felice, chief economist, Massimo Deandreis, general manager of SRM, Massimiliano Cattozzi, Agribusiness director, and Alessandra Modenese, regional director of Basilicata, Puglia and Molise, who opened the meeting. The testimonies of local representatives of the agri-food and tourism-hospitality world animated the round table, which was attended by Pasquale Casillo, president of Casillo Partecipazioni, Marisa Lisi Melpignano, partner and manager of the Melpignano Group, Savino Muraglia, managing director of Frantoio Muraglia, and Fioravante Totisco, CEO CDS Hotels.
“Thanks to the interaction between tourism and agriculture, Puglia expresses a model that can have a positive impact on other territories and promote socio-economic development in terms of employment. THEWith one billion in new credit, ntesa Sanpaolo will be able to incentivize business investments oriented towards sustainable development, the attraction of demand for goods and services, new supply chain agreements between interconnected production sectors. We address the over 216,000 companies operating in the agricultural, food processing and tourism-hospitality sectors with the aim, in line with the guidelines of the Pnrr, of supporting entrepreneurial growth processes linked to digital and environmental transitions, assisting generational transitions and thus promoting sustainable growth in the future too,” he underlines Stefano Barresehead of the Banca dei Territori Division of Intesa Sanpaolo.
From the analysis of the Research Department of Intesa Sanpaolo it emerges that in Puglia the agri-food sector produced an added value of 4.2 billion euros in 2021 (+5.4% compared to 2020). In the regional economy, the weight of the agri-food sector is 5.9% of the total added value, a higher incidence than the national average of 4%. In terms of employment, Puglia is the first Italian region in terms of number of employees, with 117,000 in agriculture and 31,000 in the food and beverage industry, with an impact on total regional employment of 11%. Excellent results obtained on international markets in recent years (+130% between 2008 and 2023) which continued also in the first six months of 2024, with an increase in current values of exports from the Apulian agri-food sector of 15% compared to the same half of 2023: in particular, the oils and fats sector stood out (+62% trend in the first half of 2024), that of dairy products and cheeses (+22%), and meats and cured meats, whose sales abroad they tripled (39 million euros more than in the same semester of 2023, of which 34 million to Turkey).
From the report by SRM-Centro Studi connected to Intesa Sanpaolo, various characteristics of the tourism supply chain in Puglia can be deduced: 2023 is also It was a positive year in which demand reached 16.8 million visitors (+4.4% compared to 2022). In terms of added value, it is estimated that the tourism supply chain achieved a value of 4.8 billion euros in 2023, 6.3% of the total. As for 2024, it will be a year of new records for the region, preliminary estimates see an increase of approximately 2.2% compared to 2023, with almost 17.2 million presences, above the value recorded in 2019 The increase in international tourist presences then continues which, with a growth of 4.1% compared to 2023, represents 138.3% of the 2019 figure. The estimated added value of the tourism sector would reach 4.9 billion in 2024. of euros (Italy 103.6 billion, South 24.9 billion), with a direct effect on the total economy of the area of 6.4% which would rise to 11.6% if the indirect and induced impact is also considered , which is also higher than the national figure (10.8%).