“Sì VIAGGIARE: SVILUPPO E OCCUPAZIONE NEL DISTRETTO DEL CAMPER” CONFERENCE
On Friday, April 21st the conference “Sì, viaggiare: sviluppo e occupazione nel distretto del camper” took place in Poggibonsi – capital of the Tuscan ‘motorhome valley’. The area between the provinces of Siena and Florence is one of the biggest European motorhome districts with direct staff amounting to 1,500 units and 4,000 units in the supply chain. A field that seems to to have left the crisis behind, driven by a real export boom, moving from 6,829 (in 2013) to 12,912 exported vehicles (+89%) in 2016, out of 15,143 vehicles manufactured in Italy, with a turnover of around 750 million Euro. “The sector has survived and is back again thanks to the technical skills and industrial tradition so rooted in this area – explained APC President Simone Niccolai in his speech – but it suffers from the weakness of the Italian market, which is actually making up ground, although not at the same level as other European countries. What’s more, the new “Milleproroghe” decree did not extend the validity of the provision for 2017, resulting in the sector losing a 5 million euro “windfall” assigned to the purchase of 600 new motorhomes. Motorhome stopping areas – concluded Niccolai –are still not enough if compared to other European countries”.