We are the Local Tourist Agency officially recognised by the Piedmont Region for TOURIST ACCOMMODATION, INFORMATION and PROMOTION of Lake Maggiore, Lake Orta, Lake Mergozzo and the Ossola Valley! Please do not hesitate to contact us!
THE ROMANTIC ATMOSPHERE OF THE LAKES, THE GRANDEUR OF THE ALPS: WELCOME!
With over 4 million visitors a year, 70% of whom are foreigners, our area is one of the most important tourist destinations in Northern Italy.
We are located in upper Piedmont, a very short distance from the Swiss border near the cantons of Ticino and Valais and the Malpensa International Airport. Even the major cities are nearby: we are an hour from Milan, an hour and a half from Turin and two hours from Genoa.
From the famous Lake Maggiore with its enchanting Borromean Islands to the tranquillity of the crystal clear waters of Lake Mergozzo, through to the enchanting scenery of Lake Orta with the picturesque Island of San Giulio. These jewels of nature, art and history provide the perfect setting for the modern Italian Dolce Vita. Set against the backdrop of the Alps, the Ossola Valley offers mountain lovers sprawling forests, lakes, soaring peaks and spectacular parks. Monte Rosa and the Val Grande, Alta Valle Antrona, Alpe Veglia and Alpe Devero National Parks are popular destinations for those seeking to explore untouched locations. Green and blue scenery, so diverse and yet so near... In less than an hour, enjoy a trip from lush lakeside shores boasting a Mediterranean climate to the second highest peak in the Alps!
The area covered by the Distretto Turistico dei Laghi, Monti e Valli dell'Ossola (Tourist District of Lakes, Mountains and Ossola Valley) includes 94 municipalities, 74 in the Province of Verbano Cusio Ossola and 20 in the Province of Novara.
Italy, Germany, France, Holland, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States are our most prominent tourist markets, attracting both individual tourists and organised groups who come here to spend sunny days of leisure and much more. That's right, because here, between the lakes and the mountains, the holiday experience is 360°: outdoor trails suitable for adults and children, the authentic flavours of local cuisine, the many small traditional museums and relaxing thermal baths amidst the Alps. You can shop for homeware and clothing among the top brands that originated on the lakes, as well as unique creations created by the skilful hands of local craftsmen.
ACCOMMODATION +900
Lake or mountain holiday? Choose from luxurious, grand lakeside hotels, mountain spa hotels or intimate boutique hotels in the hills. From family-friendly camping villages equipped with every comfort to agritourism where you can breathe in the country air. The choice is endless... hospitality is a part of our tradition. On our official tourism portal www.distrettolaghi.it and on our summer and winter outdoor tourism website www.lagomaggiorexperience.it you will find the most complete and up-to-date database containing more than 900 options for accommodation in hotels and non-hotel establishments (guesthouses, agritourism, holiday accommodation, B&Bs, campsites, holiday homes, holiday flats, hostels, country houses and mountain cabins). This comprehensive database allows you to easily select the accommodation type that best suits your holiday needs.
WHAT IS OUR MISSION?
In the interests of the destination we represent and its range of tourist attractions, we are dedicated to:
1. Informing and communicating: we create multilingual printed books and ebooks (maps, guides, brochures), generate web and social content, conduct research and provide documentation. We also create informative multimedia content in line with the latest technological standards and provide high-impact, immersive images and videos, which meet and support over 500 requests per year from the media and commercial operators, authors, film productions and the public.
2. Welcoming: we welcome and support visitors from Italy and abroad, through our network of 23 IAT (Informazione e Accoglienza Turistica - Tourist Information and Reception Centres) offices and information points in the area, including our own IAT office situated at 26 Corso Italia in the town of Stresa. It is fully staffed and open 7 days a week manned with qualified, multilingual staff.
3. Promote: we promote our destination by supporting local events, participating in projects and calls for tenders for accommodation/tourism development of the Regione Piemonte (Piedmont Region) or Cooperazione Transfrontaliera Interreg (Interreg Cross-border Cooperation), activating media partnerships with international advertising agencies. We participate in trade fairs and workshops within Italy and the main foreign markets, while organising educational tours for journalists, writers, bloggers and tour operators together with DMO VisitPiemonte and ENIT. Implementing individual promotional campaigns or in collaboration with Regione Piemonte, collaborating with Film Commission Torino Piemonte (commercials, TV and film projects) by national and international production companies.
4. Intermediary and support: we also deal with local institutions and tour operators, offering training in tourism (e.g. accessible tourism, digital marketing), support for legal requirements, school and academic collaborations, as well as providing institutions and individuals with a wealth of tourism-related material and information which we produce; moreover since we have a supra-municipal role, we are happy to act as an intermediary in tourism matters between the territory with its municipalities, operators, transport and tourism consortia on the one hand and our provinces and the region on the other.
5. Innovate: We work daily on the project of digital transformation in the tourism sector within our territory, not only for the visitor but also for the territory's main stakeholders: we have the concrete goal of creating a "digital dashboard" for the sector's stakeholders that allows them to provide targeted services to tourists by gauging their behaviour and thus increasing tourism and visitor satisfaction. We continue to meet this challenge daily with the invaluable financial support provided by the Interreg project "DESy - Digital Destination Evolution System", of which the Distretto Turistico dei Laghi is the leading partner.
WHAT ARE OUR NUMBERS?
a. Our corporate platform with the www.distrettolaghi.it portal has more than 20,000 web pages containing content only, of which about 10,000 are dedicated solely to events. (the only portal in the area updated daily by dedicated staff)
b. The outdoor tourism platform www.lagomaggiorexperience.it, launched in 2021, includes a complete encyclopaedia of certified trekking, biking and climbing routes and aims to be the first reference point for the entire territory dedicated to the outdoors. It features unique experiences, a weather and snow report page, fact sheets on all the ski resorts in the Neveazzurra area, a list of adventure parks, nature reserves and tourist destinations and much more. In addition to this, there is a webcam section that will soon be updated, providing a unique network of digital eyes on the most "sought-after" tourist locations.
c. Our social networks, with 3 pages on Facebook ( our official Facebook page has 138,000 followers and is the first official Facebook page dedicated to promoting tourism in Piedmont, connecting over 253,000 people every month through its profile), an Instagram and Twitter profile and the ever-present YouTube channel, featuring videos that take tourists on an exciting virtual journey!
d. Excellent numbers for the official website: almost 3 million views per year (Web Analytics Italia 2023 data), demonstrating that the portal is the main and fundamental tool for finding tourist information about our area. Including almost 120,000 users per year who consult our site to discover itineraries and routes, almost 30,000 users who use our site to search for accommodation facilities and hotel availability (a unique showcase for accommodation facilities to which we guarantee their fixed presence free of charge – with an entire dedicated tab – on our web pages), over 172,000 users looking for the agenda of events and, to underline this figure, almost 1,700,000 users browsing the sections dedicated to our webcams.
e. We are also on the FATMAP platform via our sites. What does this mean? It means that our territory is totally geolocalised, including tourist areas and outdoor itineraries, for a 360° vision of the area. Fatmap gives us worldwide visibility, with more than 400,000 registered accounts and over 3 million unique active users.
WHO ARE WE AND WHAT DO WE STAND FOR?
We are a DESTINATION
We address TOURIST DEMAND & OFFERINGS
We deal with INFORMATION - WELCOMING - PROMOTION
We offer COMPETENCE - TECHNOLOGY - ACTIVITIES, PROJECTS & CAMPAIGNS - TRAINING - MATERIALS - COMMITMENT & PASSION
We look to the FUTURE & INNOVATION - ENHANCING DIFFERENT TOURIST EXPERIENCES - THE LATEST MARKET TRENDS
WHERE CAN YOU FIND US?
At the headquarters of the Distretto Turistico dei Laghi (recognized by the Piedmont Region as the Local Tourist Reception and Promotion Agency) in Stresa you will also find the well-stocked tourist office representing the entire territory, with highly trained and multilingual staff!
THE TOURIST OFFICE IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC 7 DAYS A WEEK from 9 am to 5 pm!
At our IAT office, tourists, residents and operators will find all the information, leaflets and brochures for the area between Lake Maggiore, Lake Orta, Lake Mergozzo and the Ossola Valleys!
We are in Corso Italia 26 a Stresa (lakefront area).
+39 0323 30416
infoturismo@distrettolaghi.it
www.distrettolaghi.it
www.lagomaggiorexperience.it
WE ARE WAITING FOR YOU!