Tourism in Italy

Tourism in Italy is one of the largest economic sectors of the country. With 65 million tourists per year (2019) according to ISTAT, Italy is the fifth most visited country in international tourism arrivals. According to 2018 estimates by the Bank of Italy, the tourism sector directly generates more than five per cent of the national GDP (13 per cent when also considering the indirectly generated GDP) and represents over six per cent of the employed.^[7][8]

People have visited Italy for centuries, yet the first to visit the peninsula for tourist reasons were aristocrats during the Grand Tour, beginning in the 17th century, and flourishing in the 18th and 19th centuries.^[9] This was a period in which European aristocrats, many of whom were British and French, visited parts of Europe, with Italy as a key destination.^[9] For Italy, this was in order to study ancient architecture, local culture and to admire the natural beauties.^[10]

Nowadays the factors of tourist interest in Italy are mainly culture, cuisine, history, fashion, architecture, art, religious sites and routes, naturalistic beauties, nightlife, underwater sites and spas. Winter and summer tourism are present in many locations in the Alps and the Apennines,^[11] while seaside tourism is widespread in coastal locations along the Mediterranean Sea.^[12] Small, historical and artistic Italian villages are promoted through the association I Borghi più belli d'Italia (literally "The Most Beautiful Villages of Italy"). Italy is among the countries most visited in the world by tourists during the Christmas holidays.^[13] Rome is the 3rd most visited city in Europe and the 12th in the world, with 9.4 million arrivals in 2017^[14] while Milan is the 5th most visited city in Europe and the 16th in the world,^[15][16] with 8.81 million tourists.^[17] In addition, Venice and Florence are also among the world's top 100 destinations. Italy is also the country with the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world (58).^[18] Out of Italy's 58 heritage sites, 53 are cultural and 5 are natural.^[19]

The Roman Empire, Middle Ages, Renaissance and the following centuries of the history of Italy have left many cultural artefacts that attract tourists.^[20] In general, the Italian cultural heritage is the largest in the world since it consists of 60 to 75 percent of all the artistic assets that exist on each continent,^[21] with over 4,000 museums, 6,000 archaeological sites, 85,000 historic churches and 40,000 historic palaces, all subject to protection by the Italian Ministry of Culture.^[22] As of 2018, the Italian places of culture (which include museums, attractions, parks, archives and libraries) amounted to 6,610. Italy is the leading cruise tourism destination in the Mediterranean Sea.^[23]

In Italy, there is a broad variety of hotels, going from 1-5 stars. According to ISTAT, in 2017, there were 32,988 hotels with 1,133,452 rooms and 2,239,446 beds.^[24] As for non-hotel facilities (campsites, tourist villages, accommodations for rent, agritourism, etc.), in 2017 their number was 171,915 with 2,798,352 beds.^[24] The tourist flow to coastal resorts is 53 percent; the best equipped cities are Grosseto for farmhouses (217), Vieste for campsites and tourist villages (84) and Cortina d'Ampezzo mountain huts (20).^[25][26]