You often hear the desire for new and grand events that will give "our city a new boost" when interviewing tourism stakeholders. People want to attract a major event, build a new landmark, or invest in new transport means. These things can be incredibly enriching and significantly enhance a place's reputation (though not always; some cities fail by aiming too high, like those burdened with debt for decades after hosting the Olympics). However, they can also be paralysing. It's like doping: the danger is becoming dependent on it. We expect everything from a new hero, using it as an excuse to wait in the meantime.
We think of cities just like ourselves: we're afraid of not being unique enough and always expect confirmation from outside. The truth is, just as every person is unique, so is every place. Every place is unique, even if it doesn’t have unique attractions to offer, because uniqueness is the sum of everything that has made a place what it is: history, economy, environment, geography, climate, culture, tradition, customs, and politics. Not everyone has an Eiffel Tower or a pyramid, but the combination of all elements that form your city's blueprint is unique to every place. Those tasked with marketing a city often take too many things for granted.
What about your city or town? Are you also waiting for a new hero? Or are you managing to cleverly use your own identity with all its strengths and weaknesses? As we work with Turin for three years, a quote from one of Italy's most famous authors is more than fitting here. Italo Calvino wrote in his novel"Invisible Cities": “You take delight not in a city's seven or seventy wonders, but in the answer it gives to a question of yours.” Tourism shouldn’t always seek new or spectacular attractions but should instead seek the people with the right question for what you have to offer.
