Italian tourism does not seem to have fully recovered at a European and global level; the ISTAT data of the first 10 months of 2013 showed a decline of 4.3% in arrivals and 4.4% in overnight stays.
And, not since 1958 has Italy hosted more foreign tourists than domestic; in the first 10 months of 2013, foreigners contributed to 50.4% of arrivals and 50.1% of total overnight stays. The world tourism picture in 2013 recorded 1,087 million international arrivals, an increase of 5% on an annual basis - seemingly overcoming the uncertainties caused by the crisis of 2009, which brought in a long period of cutbacks.
In the last two years, European tourism has also scored good results with 5.4%. "The period of economic uncertainty - the report says - will produce an increase in spending by tourists with a growing availability of expenditure and those most sensitive to economic cycles."
In these difficult economic times, we must emphasize, in financial and strategic terms, the foreign tourist element, as between 2008 and 2013 foreign presence in Italy has increased by 12%.
Italy must try to focus on tourism in a unified manner, limiting the fragmentation of advertising abroad and promoting a globally unique Italian brand, which is very strong in the historical, architectural, and food and wine areas.
The accommodation facilities are inadequate. The improvement of hospitality should be accompanied by a more careful qualification of human resources than in the past.