Matera and Basilicata, between human community and future. Digital technology as a tool for tourism in inland areas

The experience of Matera will leave its mark in tourist Basilicata, also thanks to the drive for innovation that the experience as European Capital of Culture has fostered, on the way to 2019 and beyond.

The city has been the focus of initiatives that have highlighted its potential attractiveness towards what in various sectors can be considered "innovation". It was among the first five Italian cities to experiment with 5G applications, hosting the first of the Houses of Emerging Technologies promoted by the Ministry of Economic Development; in other words, it has so far been a place where "periphery" has not meant backwardness, but opportunity.

Matera is also in Basilicata, and Basilicata is a small region of great landscapes and strong human relations and relationships, whose tourism is still based – above all – on a human dimension that represents a strength as well as a distinguishing feature. The community promoting Basilicata can be a community of people and businesses, generating a drive that digital technology can amplify and strengthen.

Basilicata wants to "have" and "give" (ideas, contents, passion) from this exchange with its community, and this tension is the source of initiatives – some already consolidated, others emerging – in which digital technology is a means of discovery, promotion and development, bringing people back to the centre, with their needs, preferences and identity.