Reframing design for hospitality towards a cultural and sustainable approachto tourism

In the era of the Great Acceleration (McNeill, Engelke, 2014), tourism is still considered one of the main tools for territorial development and community regeneration. The tourist-customer experience promotes the cultural development of a specific geographical context. From a design point of view, tourist experiences are closely linked to the creative economy (Pine, Gilmore, 1999) and to product-space-service systems in which tourist infrastructures, including those of the hospitality industry, have contributed over the years to the reshaping of the physiognomy of landscapes and to economic growth. However, the massification of tourist experiences, with the phenomena of overtourism, and the associated infrastructures have significant environmental and social impacts and require a rethinking of tourist experiences to make them more responsive and sustainable, taking into account not only the environmental impact but also the cultural, social and economic impact in the areas concerned. The tourism sector as a whole, and the hospitality industry in particular, is beginning to recognise the importance of actively working towards sustainable approaches (WTTC, Kigali 2023). The paper discusses the design-led approach that can be used to rethink the guest experience and develop innovative strategies capable of connecting the needs of new generations of customers with physical spaces and natural environments, while restoring natural ecosystems and promoting regeneration processes. This paper explains the approaches and methods of designing strategies for sustainable transition in the tourism sector, presenting two research projects developed in different geographical contexts, prototyping systems of spaces for hospitality that apply innovative links and tools between different disciplines.