Competition Law in Tourism

322 COMPETITION LAW IN TOURISM Drafting properly the outlines of the touristic sector and the evolutive itineraries that characterise their integration into the national legal framework is particularly difficult due to three reasons3. The first one is given by the extension of its ambit which includes functions, objects, policies and deeply diversified – and under a certain perspective, heterogeneous – purposes. Such an extension dramatically reflects on the same legal order of reference which is often confused and not easily intelligible. Also, the most recent reorganisation of the national attributions in the touristic sector is affected by an emblematically confused legal framework. By means of Decree-Law no. 86 dated 12 July 2018, the administrative functions in the subject matter have indeed been conferred to the Ministry of agricultural, food and forestry policies “aiming at favouring an integrated policy of valorisation of the Made in Italy brand and at promoting coherently and sustainably the Italian System”, whereas before they were allocated to the Ministry of cultural heritage. This shift is a clear symptom of the ongoing difficulty of identifying, in particular at state level, a new administrative centre of gravity for the sector, at least regarding the outcomes of the 1993 referendum onwards, since the Ministry of tourism and entertainment was abolished and the Title V of the Constitution was reformed in 2001. Afterwards, many seasons have indeed followed when the correspondent functions were, firstly, “resuscitated” and consequently assigned to the department of the Prime Minister and then allocated, according to the logic demand for functional contiguity, to the ministerial offices which were dealing with the safeguard of cultural heritage and, at finally, dealing with agricultural policies, as aforementioned. On the other hand, the second reason inevitably concerns the difficulty of outlining the main features of the touristic sector. This also considers the particularly deep transformations that, in a growing number, have recently marked and characterised the manifestations. Indeed, all transformations are linked with the transfigurations undergone by the transportation sector and by the way supply and demand of touristic services is connected, according to the technological revolution and the consequent lifestyle changes. In fact, the most recent trends of touristic rents are contributing to redefine the layout of the touristic accommodation capacity, as well as permeating the 3 For a complete analysis, see M. Gola, A. Zito, A. Cicchetti (edited by), Amministrazione pubblica e mercato del turismo, Rimini, 2012.

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