To truly succeed as a social business, we strive to use classic business practices with innovative ideas, and to put social good above profit. What is this ‘social good’? How does PYMWYMI make a difference?
THE PROBLEM
Tourism is one of the world’s largest industries and many countries invest in tourism as a means of stimulating their economy. However, our money as visitors often does not support domestic businesses and instead feeds larger international markets, or even external markets.1 At PYMWYMI, we recognize that directing visitors to local businesses benefits both the curious world traveller and the local community. We hope to encourage a new approach to tourism that is mutually authentic and enriching for the visitor and the host community.
SUSTAINABILITY
Social businesses must consider all negative externalities beyond the scope of the standard business model. This includes environmental impacts, such as impact of transport and use of natural resources. PYMWYMI strives to reduce impact as much as possible through investing in businesses which also take this into serious consideration … Luckily for us, such businesses are not difficult to find since rural Italian communities are often inherently sustainable in their practices.2
ECONOMIC RESPONSIBILITY
Embracing the knowledge and tools already existent in the host community, PYMWYMI improves the connection from these to visitors. We work to broaden the networks for long-term relationships between supply and demand with respect to the seasonal and geographic concentration of tourism.
Furthermore, Southern Italy is suffering an even greater economic depression than the north of the nation, leading to an exodus from the south to the north or abroad by many, but primarily, educated youth (3). Therefore, we specifically seek out collaborations with businesses in the south that are either young themselves (newly founded), or owned or operated by young people!
CULTURAL AWARENESS
We couldn’t be a social business without a means by which to gain awareness and involvement. We believe that providing an experience that truly expresses the cultural intricacies of Southern Italy encourages more visitors to get on board. However, it is important to us that local communities participate in business decisions to ensure quality of work, quality of the visitors' experience, and quality of life of residents. This means actively conserving cultural and environmental heritages, and being mindful of how they are represented.
