What are travellers looking for in Italy? More wine and food, and more culture. And tourism is thriving, driven mainly by international demand. Setting aside for a moment today’s energy crisis and yesterday’s pandemic, the picture of the tourism industry becomes clearer, and the future, if possible, looks even rosier.
A recent timelapse from the National Institute for Tourism Research (Isnart) provides a brief overview of Italian travel industry trends over three decades, and the first figure that stands out is, of course, the growth in arrivals: in 1990 total overnights were 252 million and in 2022 they were 436 million, with foreign tourist numbers going from 84 million in 1990 to 220 million in the pre-Covid 2019 year (+160%). What tourists are buying is also changing, with typical food and wine products growing strongly (from 26% in 2008 to 34% in 2019) as is spending on cultural products like entrance tickets and museum guides, which rose from 16% to 24% of the total spend.
In the business sector, in the third quarter of this year there were 461,000 accommodation and catering companies, employing almost 2 million people. Compared to 2010 this is a rise of 20% in the number of registered companies and 32% in the number of employees. All of which goes to show the growing importance of tourism in Italy’s economy.
Encouraging numbers and figures indeed, that we at Italiabsolutely take as our cue to wish all travellers and tourism players a fantastic 2023. May it be full of new discoveries, experiences and emotions at all latitudes, but especially in Italy!
Massimiliano Sarti
Journalist
