Economy of tourism in Italy |
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Collection title
Settegiorni in Parlamento
First broadcast date
11/06/2010
Abstract
Commentary about tourism in Italy, especially about new business strategies with different offerings. Some experts are interviewed about it. Views of people on holiday in different tourist destinations.
Broadcaster
RAI - RAI Uno
Audiovisual form
Magazine
Primary theme
Tourism and cultural sites
Credits / Cast
- Bernabo' Bocca - Participant
- Winteler Daniel John - Participant
- Marzotto Matteo - Participant
Original language
Italian
Context
Tourism economy in Italy
Stéphane Mourlane
Italy has always attracted travellers with distinguished taste of travel. It has played an important role in the social evolution that led to «the invention of tourism». Since the XVI century, Italy has received some humanist travellers like Montaigne. Other travellers have also arrived and the peninsula became at a high level of the peregrinatio academica and the Gand Tour, which practice had been first istablished by the Englishmen, to spread later all over the old continent in the XVIII century as a consacration of the achievement of young and fortunate European aristocrats. Tourism in Italy took off in the XIX century. Italy’s charms began to appear in Romanticism, while the rise of railways made travelling less tedious. However, travel to Italy was limited to the most priviliged social categories. Many felt the need to report their journey in writing, so they made stories where they expressed their feelings and careful observations of landscapes and populations of the visited country. From these writings was born a whole new literary type that did not only continue to encourage the travel to Italy, but also defined, for a long time in the collective imagination, the "vivendas", which meant the places to see, while tourist guides that appeared in the second half of the nineteenth century mark out routes even more.
Since 1950s, an international mass tourism has developed. Italy became one of the major destinations and occupied the first place in the world ranking for a long period of time. This success was due to the exceptional artistic and cultural heritage of the country with the largest number of heritage sites of UNESCO (45). In 2009, nearly 46% of tourists visited "a city of historical and artistic interest." Italy also has many geographical advantages. The country has the longest European seaboard with 7400 km of coastline. Seaside tourism develops there especially on the shores of the Adriatic or the Ligurian Riviera, and to a lesser extent in the South. The northern part of Italy and its Alpine massifs benefit from the development of winter sports. The Country landscapes of Belpaese also attract many tourists. The Agriturismo, in which the offered services are related to the agricultural use, has been a resounding success in central Italy, especially in Tuscany. Recognizing the value of this landscape capital, the Italian authorities have adopted early actions to protect the environment. In 2010, about 10% of the territory was protected in many various forms: national or regional parks and regional or State natural reserves.
In 2009, the Peninsula welcomed in these conditions 43 million visitors coming from Germany (9 million), the United States (3.9 million), France (3.3 million) and the United Kingdom (2.7 million). Estimates show that tourism makes between 10% and 12% of national GDP and employs, directly and indirectly, about 3 million people. Since the development of tourism is a major resource for the Italian economy, it is for the State a constant concern that is reinforced in times of crisis. The sector is indeed facing international competition: Italy downgraded to the fifth rank in the list of travelling destinations in the world after France, Spain, the United States and China. Measures adopted in 2010 aim to assure a better promotion of Italy in the world, but also to modernize a tourism offer adapted to a constantly evolving demand. Thus, it seems essential to take into account the environmental requirements of the tourists in fighting pollution or urban sprawl especially on coastlines. It would also be useful to review the administrative organization and management of tourism that needs, like other sectors, harmonizing the procedures that are made complex and sometimes confusing because of an increasing decentralization. Regional rebalancing in favor of the South is finally another challenge that arises for Italy while it maintains and strengthens its touristic attractiveness.
Bibliography :
Marc Boyer, Histoire du tourisme de masse, Paris, PUF, 1999.
Annunziata Berrino, Storia del Turismo in Italia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2011.