Transport-Tourism Integrated Policies. A luxury train in a multimodal corridor along the Italian Ionian coast to support economic development

The development of tourism is closely linked to the availability of efficient transport systems. Transport and tourism are therefore closely connected: planning and carrying out actions in the transport sector cannot fail to consider the impact that tourism-related phenomena generates on the mobility of people and freights in general. Similarly, tourism policies cannot neglect the aspects linked to the management of travel to and from the destinations of interest and within each of the destinations themselves. Transport-tourism synergy can have extremely positive effects on the economic development of a territory. The promotion of tourism, infrastructure and transport services investments can foster employment and local incomes growth, as well as greater ease of access to the sites and the reduction of the general travel cost. In this sense, with reference to consolidated international tourism experiences, the paper presents a proposal for a luxury tourist train along the Italian Ionian coast, to improve the tourist attractiveness of the extreme South of Italy. Finally, some comparative economic assessments are carried out to verify the feasibility of the project.