the project

A large number of tourist operators took part in the presentation evening for a new management model for visitors to the lake area. After a year and a half of work, Trentino Marketing, the Local Council of Molveno, and the APT Dolomiti Paganella tourist office presented a substantial study conducted with the support of the Brenta Dolomites Local Area Agency.

The presentation on 20 March 2023 at the Molveno Congress Centre was probably the first example of a project for the reorganization of holiday experiences in Trentino based entirely on a “data driven” methodology. The volume of data collected by Trentino Marketing was genuinely impressive and was presented to a large audience, consisting in particular of local operators interested in hearing about possible adaptations for a more sustainable future for Lake Molveno.
During the meeting Giulia Dalla Palma and Christian Girardi from Trentino Marketing presented the collected data. Francesca Ierace from the Terra Institute and Patrick Kofler from Helios (a partner company in the project) instead spoke respectively of the lake’s load capacity, and options for reorganizing road traffic and parking in the short, medium, and long terms.
Hundreds of questionnaires were collected over the summer of 2023 in order to assess the perception of overcrowding in the lake area. There was also an investigation of the  acceptance by visitors of modified forms of parking access. Other data was collected by special pedestrian and vehicle counter sensors, together with the results of a new experimental investigation of anthropic loading using data from cellphone base stations. The latter innovative data source for the first time provided indications on the pressure that tourists, day visitors, and residents generate on the lake area. The Local Council conducted their own specific analysis on air and noise pollution resulting from traffic and overcrowding during the summer months.

Giulia Dalla Palma, co-ordinator of the Local Area & Destination Development Agency of Trentino Marketing, explained the role of ATA Brenta Dolomites in the project as follows: “The Local Area Agencies are instruments available to specific communities. They are integral parts of Trentino Marketing and work in close synergy with the APT tourist offices and local councils, applying an analytic approach and coordinating various professional skills, with the aim of providing tourist products with a central focus on local communities and the quality of the holiday experience. Credit for implementing this study project is due to Molveno Local Council, the APT Brenta Dolomites, Molveno Holiday, and the SITM”.

Luca d’Angelo, Director of APT Dolomiti Paganella, summarized the complex investigations carried out: “What emerges clearly is that currently there is no significant decline in visitor satisfaction during holidays at Lake Molveno. They notice the crowding but tolerate it well, still assessing their experiences positively. However, the analysed data show that too many day trippers visit the lake by car and the critical factors today have become road traffic and parking. This is the issue that should be given priority”.

Matteo Sartori, Mayor of Molveno expressed his satisfaction for the work carried out by the Brenta Dolomites Local Area Agency together with all the project partners: “The numerous presence of the public and tourist operators at the meeting confirms the local community’s serious interest in the delicate issue of managing tourist traffic which, as this complex study has demonstrated, requires measures to be taken soon to safeguard the image and quality of Molveno. These involve initiatives, some already defined and others still to be defined, that the Local Council will implement, aware of their fundamental importance for the harmonious development of our mountain resort”.

Michele Viola, President of the APT Dolomiti Paganella, said, “Taking on such a complex project involving numerous actors and applying new methodologies was a considerable challenge that we were only able to face thanks to our consolidated collaboration over the years with the Dolomiti Paganella Future Lab. Now we are happy to share this unified perspective with the Molveno administration and tourist operators, aimed at achieving a balance between tourist development, quality of life of local residents, protecting the natural environment, and the satisfaction of our visitors”.

After this evening, work will proceed to collect feedback from the community and develop a booking system for parking in the lake area for introduction already in the summer of 2024.
At the same time infrastructural adjustments for filtering and directing road traffic will be fine tuned, culminating in the introduction of a new vehicle access system in 2025.
The APT will start immediately defining the initial communication elements along the roads in order to prepare the local population, catering and accommodation operators, and holiday makers for the changes that will come into force in Molveno starting in summer 2025.