Foreign tourism in Italy is returning to pre-covid levels. Almost. So tell the data of the Christmas holidays, with an increase in international airline bookings of 57.3% compared to the same period 2021/2022. The Americans are back, US tourists have doubled their presence with 21% of the total arrivals from abroad. The strongholds of the foreign presence in Italy follow: Germany And United Kingdomwith 9.8% and 7.9% of the total.
Where do the tourists go? In Rome, and with a very clear preference: over 122,000 airline bookings for the Christmas period are directed to the capitalwhich received about the 45% of total international visitors, 82.2% more than in the same period 2021/2022. Rome is followed on the podium by Milanup by +63.9%, and from Venice with +30.2%. “We have not yet recovered 100%, but we notice a greater diversification, even autumn was full of foreign tourists”, he comments Ivana Jelinic, new CEO of Enit, the body responsible for promoting tourism in our country abroad. She is only 39 years old, she is the youngest woman to head the institution, having started 20 years ago as a travel agent. This is how you see tourism in Italy.
2022 was a year of recovery, what are the expectations in terms of tourist arrivals for next year?
«We would like to return to the data of 2019, the best year for tourism in Italy with a total of 131.38 million tourists, and indeed do even better. This year has been very encouraging and we would like 2023 to be the year of the record».
How important is foreign tourism in Italy in economic terms, and how much does Enit spend to promote our country?
«Foreign tourists are 52% of tourist presences in Italy, and represent a turnover of 21.7 billion (out of a total together with national tourism of 70.5 billion euros, ed). Enit’s budget is around 30 million a year, but in 2023 we will have an additional lease thanks to the Pnrr, while a slight decrease is expected for the next few years”.
What do you do with this budget?
«We participate in the most important trade fairs in the sector, we carry out communication campaigns at an international level, we support many events of a different nature around the world. We take advantage of every occasion where it is possible to promote Italy. Tourism is a transversal theme, our country is also promoted through food and wine or fashion or design. I wish there were more contaminations, even if as a public body our sphere of collaboration with the private sector is obviously limited».
What kind of changes will his leadership bring?
«I’ll take care of an internal reorganization, the expansion of the foreign offices, we have planned the biggest promotion campaign that the institution has ever carried out, and as I said, even within the perimeters that are given to us, we are looking for synergies with private individuals because the excellences of Made in Italy are promoted and act as a driving force».
What are the most interested foreign markets for Italy?
«On the European front, the leading market is Germany, followed by Spain and the United Kingdom. On the international long-range front, undoubtedly the American market and also the South Americans. Now we are focusing on the Indian market, one and a half billion people and a double-digit economy. However, we must fill the void left by Russians and Chinese».
What are the flagship places of the Italian offer abroad? Which destinations?
«Americans and long-haulers aim for the big cities of art, the Germans choose the smaller villages and localities».
Tourism to smaller towns is a very important issue. How are you promoting decentralized tourism?
«We promote particular themes, eco-sustainability, we focus attention on smaller localities at the suggestion of the regions. But there is a tourism to which we must speak of the country of Italy, and of the classic destinations ».
As important as incoming tourism is, so is the protection of places and communities from unregulated tourism. What do you think about the problem of overtourism?
«It is clear that a balance must be found and have the ability to understand which areas and territories must not be exposed to massification. But on the other hand, to be promoted, minor places must have adequate infrastructure and hotels. Some realities manage to find an entrepreneurial vein in the area that manages to revive them, in other areas it is more difficult, there are depopulated villages, or even dormitory villages with many bed and breakfasts but no other tourist activity ».
Wouldn’t it be important to help the entrepreneurship of these places in order to decentralize tourism, and move it from overcrowded destinations to communities for which tourism could be a salvation?
“We don’t have the financial means to do it”
Isn’t there the possibility of making a synergy with other ministries and bodies?
«Everything can be done, but they are more than ambitious projects».
What do you think of the regulated entrances to Venice, always on the proposal of overtourism?
“It is a necessary element, it is a city that must be preserved, it cannot be left to wild boarding with numbers it cannot support”.
Venice’s problem also arises from the type of tourists who arrive there, often tourists who visit it during the day without bringing added value.
«We can certainly make tourists who come to Italy aware of more cultural themes, but it is difficult, tourists do not order on Amazon and in any case they are not all the same, nor is there the perfect sad. Tourism promotion is a complex matter that touches on various aspects from economic to anthropological and social ones».
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Source: Vanity Fair
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