OSTUNI (ITALPRESS) – Intesa Sanpaolo encourages and accompanies the integrated development of the agri-food and tourism supply chains that in Puglia express peculiarities capable of translating into an example of success potentially replicable on a national scale. In a meeting with local entrepreneurs that took place today in Ostuni, the peculiarities of the “Puglia model” were presented, based on the integration of a renewed and sustainable tourism offer with the numerous food and wine, cultural and naturalistic realities of an area that in just a few years has seen an intense and consistent growth in national and international attractiveness, moving from an exclusively seaside approach to that of a multifaceted tourist destination.It is precisely the connection with the tourism industry that has enabled the agri-food sector to seize new business opportunities linked to identity products that can be easily combined with the accommodation proposal.In Apulia, in fact, for the approximately 190,000 small and medium-sized companies in the sector, which employ 148,000 people (the first Italian region in the sector in terms of number of employees), turnover growth is estimated to be well above the Italian average, with an increase in exports of 130 percent in the period 2008-2023, driven by the area’s chains of excellence (oil, wine and wheat-based products).Apulia is Italy’s fourth largest destination for food and wine tourism, which enabled a new record-breaking year in terms of tourist presences, better than the Italian average and the entire Mezzogiorno, with an even higher figure than that recorded in 2023. Intesa Sanpaolo has supported this growth, financing regional investments to the agrifood and tourism sectors for nearly 2 billion euros over the period 2020 to June 2024.To further enhance the synergies between tourism and agriculture in Puglia, the bank has set up a 1 billion euro ceiling to incentivize processes of hotel and agricultural upgrading, digitalization, supply chain development and energy independence. This intervention is part of the “Your Future is Our Business” program, which allocates 120 billion euros until 2026 for investments, and confirms the commitment made by the Group in July in Taormina at the launch of ad hoc tools for tourism, including 10 billion euros of new credit, of which 3 billion euros are earmarked for southern companies.The measures put in place by the bank were illustrated in the splendid setting of the Masseria Santa Lucia during a conference where, for Intesa Sanpaolo, speakers included Stefano Barrese, head of the Banca dei Territori Division (pictured), Gregorio De Felice, chief economist, Massimo Deandreis, SRM director general, Massimiliano Cattozzi, director of Agribusiness, and Alessandra Modenese, regional director of Basilicata, Puglia and Molise, who opened the meeting. Testimonies from local representatives of the agribusiness and tourism/accommodation sectors enlivened the round table, which was attended by Pasquale Casillo, president Casillo Partecipazioni, Marisa Lisi Melpignano, partner and manager Gruppo Melpignano, Savino Muraglia, managing director Frantoio Muraglia, and Fioravante Totisco, ceo CDS Hotels.’Thanks to the interaction between tourism and agriculture, Puglia expresses a model that can have a positive impact on other territories and foster socio-economic development in terms of employment as well,’ said Stefano Barrese,head of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Banca dei Territori Division.’Intesa Sanpaolo with a billion of new credit will be able to incentivize business investments oriented to sustainable development, the attraction of demand for goods and services, new supply chain agreements between interconnected production sectors. We are targeting the more than 216,000 companies operating in the agricultural, food processing and tourism-accommodation sectors with the aim, in line with the guidelines of the NRP, of supporting entrepreneurial growth processes related to digital and environmental transitions, assisting their generational transitions and thus favoring their sustainable growth also in the futureè.The analysis of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Research Department shows that in Apulia the agri-food sector produced an added value of 4.2 billion euros in 2021 (+5.4% compared to 2020). In the regional economy, the weight of the agrifood sector is 5.9 percent of the total value added, a higher incidence than the national average of 4 percent. In terms of employment, Puglia is the first Italian region in terms of the number of people employed, to the extent of 117,000 in agriculture and 31,000 in the food and beverage industry, accounting for 11 percent of total regional employment. Excellent results have been achieved on international markets in recent years (+130% between 2008 and 2023), which continued in the first six months of 2024, with exports of the Apulian agrifood sector increasing at current values by 15% compared to the same six months of 2023: oils and fats(+62% trend in the first half of 2024), dairy products and cheeses (+22%), and meats and cold cuts, whose foreign sales tripled (€39 million more than in the same six months of 2023, including €34 million to Turkey).From the report by SRM-Centro Studi linked to Intesa Sanpaolo, several features of Apulia’s tourism supply chain are evident: 2023 was also a positive year in which demand reached 16.8 million presences (+4.4 percent compared to 2022). In terms of added value, the tourism supply chain is estimated to have achieved a value of 4.8 billion euros in 2023, 6.3 percent of the total. As for 2024, which will be a year of new records for the region, preliminary estimates see an increase of about 2.2 percent over 2023, with nearly 17.2 million presences, above the value recorded in 2019. The increase in international tourist presences then continues, with 4.1 percent growth over 2023, accounting for 138.3 percent of the 2019 figure. The estimated added value of the tourism supply chain would reach 4.9 billion euros in 2024 (Italy 103.6 billion, South 24.9 billion), with a direct effect on the area’s total economy of 6.4 percent, which would rise to 11.6 percent if the indirect and induced impact is also taken into account, which is also higher than the national figure (10.8 percent).Intesa Sanpaolo focuses on sustainability as a strategic growth lever and declines it in the territories in which it operates through ESG Laboratories present in major Italian cities, including Bari. Thanks to services and products specifically designed for various investment needs, the bank incentivizes companies to finalize objectives with a view to sustainability, in the growing awareness that the adoption of ESG policies-environmental impact, social responsibility, business management-are essential to competitiveness and value creation for companies. The Group also devotes special attention both to water management, a real resource for the efficiency of which Intesa Sanpaolo has earmarked 20 billion euros in investments for the adoption of water-saving and reuse measures, and to the energy transition of small and medium-sized Italian companies, through dedicated products and plafonds and especially by supporting investments in the logic of the Transition 5 Plan.0, which aims to promote energy saving and the digitization of businesses.Starting in 2021, Intesa Sanpaolo will dedicate to Agribusiness a specialized sales network capable of following the entire production chain, from production to processing. A structure with more than 1,000 professionals that has made it possible to support the sector with nationwide disbursements of more than 10 billion euros and support for more than 170 supply chains. Among the specific products for agribusinesses, Cresci Agri is the line of financing with a duration of up to 30 years dedicated to the development of production that can be modulated on the production cycle of the supply chain to which it belongs, as well as products for hedging against risks on raw materials and ad hoc solutions for energy efficiency and international growth.For tourism, Intesa Sanpaolo has activated specialized desks to support businesses in the sector, as well as dedicated initiatives through specific financial interventions, either on its own or in collaboration with prestigious partners, setting up a support network that accompanies the tourism enterprise in all phases of the business. Among the measures aimed at the sector are S-Loan financing solutions that provide a mechanism of economic incentives to companies that invest and achieve ESG objectives. The bank has also joined the thematic fund for tourism through Equiter, with resources administered by the EIB on behalf of the MEF and directed to companies. Operational rental solutions are also available for tourism businesses to initiate facility modernization programs while preserving the financial balance of SMEs.
– photo Intesa Sanpaolo press office-(ITALPRESS).
