We are now used to reading about how Sicily manages to manage in the worst possible way the resources made available by the European community. The new tools of speculation are called “Tourist Districts”, born with the noble intent to promote tourism in Sicily. Sicily is divided into two ideal areas, each united by natural resources, history, culture, shared areas that are easily accessible. Many new ideas and well-designed projects to make the most of the funds made available by the European community.

The tourist directives have been operating for several years now and are made up of consortia of municipalities and businesses. In Sicily there were 25 of them: a good 35% did not produce anything, proving to be an incredible flop. Much of the money available has never been used due to the absence of initiatives and around € 12 million has been spent. The usual local proposals were presented that penalized Sicily in terms of visibility and lack of synergy in the use of resources.

Specifically, the data disclosed by the Sicilian region shows that a total of 48 projects have been financed for a total of 15 million and 400 thousand euros. Money partially withdrawn due to the revocation of 9 projects for a total amount of approximately 3.8 million. In conclusion, the unused resources were 12 million and 400 thousand Euros, amounts currently practically lost. Precisely for these reasons, the number of districts has been reduced to 7, for each of them the model has been reformed to avoid new periods of prolonged inactivity.

Sicily is confirmed as a region at the forefront in the exploitation without results of the funds made available by the European community.