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OCT. NOV. 2021 IV as long as the current gender disparity persists. Only 6% of starred chefs are women, for example, in a world like that of cuisine that is traditionally feminine. Then there is the gender pay gap, the pay disparity between genders, the difficulty of reconciling work and family and/or personal life in a working environment that is often rigid or even toxic. At the seventh Parabere Forum congress, held at the end of September live online from Paris, Sydney and Buenos Aires, “community” was discussed. Barladies, chefs and home cooks emphasised from various points of view the importance of networking, among professionals, up and down the supply chain, but also with the local community and clients, as happened with the many cooks who worked during the pandemic to support families in need (an example to all: the combatant cooks of Turin). Together, in short, we win and face things better. Even the fight for a fairer and more egalitarian catering. The Parabere Forum is only the most historic initiative that has united women in the restaurant industry: this year there have been dinners, events, meetings on and offline. Proving that the issue is relevant and crucial. Once again, the focus is on social issues, the human factor, politics in the most genuine sense of the term, which enters our lives and asks for individual answers on how to face a future that appears uncertain, but also full of opportunities. ____________________________________ BOX Essential bibliography: three books to plan (your) future ENCORE - Inspiring Ways with Leftovers, from 100 Thoughtful Cooks, 2021, available for purchase at http://parabereforum.com/ parabere-essays/ Emiliano Citi, Your Restaurant is Dead, 2020, available at www.ristobusiness.it Carl Orsbourn & Meredith Sandland, Delivering the Digital Restaurant: Your Roadmap to the Future of Food, 2021, available for purchase at https://www. amplifypublishing.com/product/delivering/ ____________________________________ AT PAGE 10 IN DEPTH New Year’s Eve 2021. At high altitude with a bang After the forgettable 2020-2021 winter season, hotels and restaurants in the Italian Alps are selling out for the imminent start of a new season on Italy’s beloved slopes by Alessandro Vergallo On the Italian peaks the wind is changing. A new wave of fresh air which, according to the experts of Italian tourism, suggests that the 2021/2022 season will be explosive, perhaps the best ever. In the pre-Covid era, mountain hotels were always at the bottom of the rankings compared to hotels in cities of art and seaside and lake resorts. Not anymore, because they have managed to climb the ranking. “Well in advance, through our organisation,” says Franco Grasso, Italian tourism guru at the head of the Revenu Team, “we have monitored the mountain hotels both from a commercial and a pricing point of view, and we have found that demand and pressure on dates during the winter period is very high. We also found that prices are rising significantly”. The compensatory variable certainly plays a fundamental role in this sudden increase, a consequence of the disastrous winter season of 2020, a period in which the regulars of the mountains were completely barred from taking their holidays in the snow, for the reasons we all know. Now that the barriers from one region to another - and from one state to another - have fallen, high-altitude tourists can finally make up for lost time. ATTENTION TO STRATEGIES To make the success of the 2021/2022 winter season official, a lot will depend on the hosts and how they manage bookings, rates, allotments and how much importance they give to internal services. “A good strategy for sure,” continues Grasso, “will increase their turnovers by at least 20-25% more than the previous season and will also allow them the possibility to build a good brand reputation and better plan the next winter and summer seasons”. The blanket vaccination and the use of the green pass have facilitated almost immediately the freedom of movement throughout the country and the numbers of the summer season just ended confirm this. Johannes Prinoth, owner of the Friedrich Aogost chalet, situated at 2300 metres below the Sassolungo rock face in Trentino, says: “The number of tourists in June was more or less the same as in the same period in previous years, but in July there was an increase of 30% and in August of 50% compared to last year. If everything goes well with the green pass and the opening of the Sella Ronda, considering the bookings that continue to arrive every day, especially from Germans and Dutch, I’m sure that this winter we will have a boom”. The trend is confirmed by Matteo Anderle, owner of the hotels Aurora and Garni e Wellness Anderle in Compet and Massimo Osele, owner of the Malga Millegrobbe complex in Millegrobbe, both located in the province of Trento. The former said: “We work with both Italians and foreigners; out of 10 guests, 6 are foreigners, mainly Germans and Dutch who prefer to come to us out of season, especially in September, October and in spring, and 4 Italians especially in August”. The second entrepreneur adds: “The first signs coming from the latest bookings are satisfactory. The most prestigious structures here on the plateau are already well advanced, so everything gives us hope for an immediate positive restart. The only problem is being able to find qualified MAGAZINE