Garda Hoteliers Push for City Management, New Projects and Collaboration
The Garda hoteliers want to have a louder voice. Their president, Alessandro Borelli, explicitly states this. The Garda Hoteliers Association does not just speak about it: it proposes that the municipality directly manage the new parking lot in via Preite and champions the creation of a new sports center with an attached hotel, indicating it is ready to fund the project.
This emerged from the assembly of fifty-five hotel owners from Garda and Costermano held recently at the Regina Adelaide hotel. An assembly that probably marked a historic turning point in the activity of the economic group, which is increasingly seeking to assume the role of a modern trade union for the sector.
«As operators,» says Borelli, «we feel the need for greater dialogue with local authorities, with Municipalities, the Province, and the Region. We ask to be consulted when decisions affecting our territory are made. We want to actively participate in resolving ongoing issues.
We hear talk of the need to improve the quality of tourist offerings; we are ready to take on our responsibilities, but quality must also extend outside the hotels. I am referring to traffic management, water quality, port facilities, and parking. I repeat: we are ready to do our part together with institutions to improve the quality of our territory, on which our future depends.»
Future Projects and Collaborations
From words to action. The Garda Hoteliers Association has already submitted to the municipality a proposal to directly manage the new parking lot under construction in via Preite. Recently, it also presented an ambitious new project to the mayor.
«The Municipality,» says Borelli, «offered us the opportunity to manage an area of about seventy thousand square meters designated for sports infrastructure. We told them we are willing to develop a sports center there. Our dream is also to host Paola Pezzo’s mountain bike school.»
The sports center would be built next to the new football facility developed by the municipality. The hotel could accommodate football clubs in training camps. The project involves an investment of several billion euros.
«The Hoteliers Association,» comments Mayor Giorgio Comencini, «is a sort of Confindustria (Confederation of Italian Industry) for our area. I hope these projects can come to fruition. The Municipality has already invested in improving the quality of tourism offerings: I think of the new cycling paths or even the Christmas among the olive trees.»
«I hope we can accomplish more together with the hoteliers,» he adds.
«Associationalism,» stressed the provincial tourism councilor Davide Bendinelli, also from Garda and a hotelier himself, «is becoming increasingly important. The Hoteliers Association should act as a true trade union. I believe much can be achieved with the transfer of responsibilities for tourist planning from the Region to the Province.»
The assembly of Garda hoteliers was also attended by Antonio Pasotti, a member of the board of the Garda Community.