“The main problem for hoteliers today? It is the unfair competition of the black economy. And we are trying to fight it by every means.” Simone Fittuccia, born in 1967, is a leading figure in regional hospitality. President of Federalberghi Umbria, he started by taking over the running of the Hotel Priori in Assisi and then expanded to Perugia and beyond the Region. A graduate in Political Science, he has numerous experiences abroad to his name.

Fittuccia, could you describe Federalberghi briefly for us?

“More than a trade association, it is a union attentive to the needs of the entire accommodation sector. We deal with institutions such as the Region, the national tourism agency and the municipalities. Besides the president, the organisational structure has a board of directors with sixteen councillors elected at provincial level and twenty-six at regional level. Each of the councillors brings the problems of his own area to the table.”

What is this “union” working on today?

“The biggest problem we are facing is undoubtedly the black economy, that is, those who run accommodation businesses in the tourism sector but do not have the necessary authorisations, and therefore compete unfairly.”

And the tools of this resistance?

“First of all, we keep up strong pressure on the institutions, in particular the Region and the Prefecture. Checks have to be monitored by the competent bodies, such as the Prefecture, which in turn delegates to the police, the finance police and the municipal police. The point is that very often these checks are not carried out, for reasons of time or resources. That is why we are working on a memorandum of understanding with the police forces, the Questura, the finance police, the Region, ANCI and the municipalities. Whenever possible, we report businesses that are not in order with their permits, and we push the Prefecture and the Region to require registration in the regional register. Then we check whether that registration has taken place, and if not we press again for an inspection and for the suspension of the business in question.”

So, have you turned into sheriffs?

“I would say, rather, ‘upholders of legality’. We are forced to encourage checks because the competition really is enormous, above all because of the new online portals. And in fact it is precisely through Booking and Airbnb that we manage to identify the establishments not entered in the register. Essentially, we cross-check all the businesses listed on the web portals against those in the tourism register, and we report the ones that are not registered. Our aim is to guarantee the oversight that the portals do not provide: for them it is enough that the property exists, they do not care whether it is legal. They pocket the commissions without asking for the identification code or the licence. They want to increase the supply in the area, which instead penalises us hoteliers, who, having to comply with rules and regulations, cannot compete with those who do not have to respect them.”

You mentioned Booking. How much has its power weighed on your sector?

“We call it our ‘hidden partner’, because it risks nothing and takes a commission of 20%. At national level we are trying to encourage booking direct: customers who book by calling the property directly will get a 10% discount on the price offered by Booking. In practice we are trying to get them used again to dealing directly with the hotel. That way we increase our profit margin and the customer saves money.”

Of course, Booking is a giant that is hard to weaken, and it is also difficult to push hotels to boycott it: they would risk being shut out of a decisive slice of the market.

“Exactly. Consider that today 60% of individual customers book on Booking. Only groups are still loyal to the agencies or to direct booking. When individuals have to look for somewhere to stay, they go online and find Booking, where hotels are catalogued by features and reviews.”

Ah yes, reviews. There are more and more of them, and they are more detailed. Are they a problem too?

“Obviously this has a strong conditioning effect. Which is also an incentive to improve quality, because in the past there was no objective feedback, nor any yardstick for the hoteliers themselves to improve on. Today, if eight customers out of ten point to a shortcoming, the hotelier is prompted to solve the problem.”

Let us focus on Umbria. What are the features of its hospitality?

“Umbria is a completely different market from that of – say – Lazio or Lombardy. The accommodation businesses are essentially family-run and there are no big groups. It is a still-genuine region, which presents itself on the market with its natural, artistic and territorial wealth. In recent years there has been a gradual and steady increase in visitor numbers. What had been the best years, 2015 and 2016, that is, before the earthquake, have now been surpassed, thanks also to communication and promotion.”

And now we come to the sore point of the earthquake.

“After the earthquake there was an outright collapse, because it was not Norcia that had been struck but the whole of Umbria. The message put out was ‘earthquake-stricken Umbria’, and this caused enormous damage. Federalberghi fought to contain the perception of the earthquake, and there was no shortage of tense moments with the news media. From then on, territories and heritage were given new value, and the entrepreneurs themselves began to upgrade their accommodation with the resources made available by the Region and the European Community.”

How are the travel agencies doing?

“They are in a very deep crisis. Today the average citizen uses the web for everything: air ticketing, hotel bookings, services. The added value of the agencies lay precisely in bringing all these items together. The few that remain open survive on inbound tourism: they try to offer the ‘Umbria product’ to the outside world and to organise trips for external tour operators.”

To conclude: some figures on the types of tourism in Umbria?

“According to a study by Nomisma, a national company that carries out market research, the ‘walking routes and nature’ segment accounts for 35/40% of tourism, the appeal of the ‘old villages’ for 25/30% and the religious factor for between 10 and 16%.”

Giovanni Landi holds a PhD in Legal Sciences. He is currently a trainee journalist at the Centre for Radio and Television Journalism in Perugia.