Roots Tourism as a Means to Foster Sustainable Development of Small Destinations: A Focus on Italy

Roots tourism is increasing awareness among businesses, policy makers and public authorities about its capability to attract tourists which hold direct or indirect family bonds with the communities of destinations where such tourists come from. One of its particular characteristics consists of being a means of tourist development for potential destinations which have been affected by population loss: those same migrated people could nowadays be roots tourists by visiting their homeland. Although roots tourism has been already investigated in literature, particularly in diaspora tourism, what seems not to be fully explored are paths and road maps for developing such market within the stakeholders theory, especially in Italy where roots tourism is still underexplored. In this regard, the present study seeks to fill this gap by offering a systematic analysis of the actors potentially involved in roots tourism, in order to contribute to the creation of development paths for local communities which host return tourists. In fact, the study’s main goal is to outline paths and tools addressed to small destinations and rural areas, rather than already established destinations, by engaging together policy makers, businesses, NGOs and local community around a shared plan.