In 2024, tourism in Italy experienced remarkable growth, with almost 500 million overnight stays; more than half of those were of foreign travelers. This positions Italy second only to Spain in the European Union for tourism.
According to official data released by ISTAT, the Italian statistics institute, the number of arrivals increased by 1.2%, while overnight stays surged by 11.1%.
By the end of the year, Italy recorded 458.4 million overnight stays in accommodation establishments, marking a new peak with a 2.5% increase compared to the previous high set in 2023.
The fourth quarter of 2024 demonstrates a very positive performance, especially regarding the number of overnight stays in hotel establishments. Overall, compared to the same period in 2023, overnight stays increased by 11.1%, while arrivals rose by 1.2%.
In October, more than two-thirds of overnight stays (67.5%) were attributed to foreign tourists. However, domestic demand was prevalent during November and December. Specifically, 53.7% of overnight stays in November and 57% in December were accounted for by Italian tourists.
When comparing the overall composition of hospitality establishments for the quarter with that of the previous year, the share of foreign guests increased from 53.2% in 2023 to 55.4% in 2024.
During the same period, the number of guests at both hotel and non-hotel establishments rose significantly. Hotel guests increased by 10.6%, while non-hotel establishments experienced a growth of 12.2%.
The average stay for customers in accommodation establishments is 3.01 nights, which shows a slight increase for both Italians and foreigners. Italians stayed an average of 2.66 nights, up by 0.23 from 2023, whereas foreigners had an average stay of 3.37 nights, an increase of 0.28 nights.
According to the current estimates for 2024, there is a noticeable divergence between the trends for arrivals and overnight stays in Italy. Overnight stays are projected to reach 458.4 million, reflecting a growth of 2.5% compared to the record levels of 2023. In contrast, arrivals are expected to total 129.3 million, which is 4.4 million fewer than in 2023, representing a decline of 3.3%. Italy's growth rate of 2.5% aligns with the EU average, positioning the country second among European nations for total overnight stays. Italy surpasses France, which is estimated to have 450.1 million overnight stays while trailing only behind Spain, which leads with 501.1 million overnight stays.
When considering only foreign tourism, Italy ranks second with 250.1 million overnight stays, following Spain, which records 320.7 million overnight stays by international guests.
Domestic travel is declining among the top three countries for tourist overnight stays. Italy experienced a more significant decrease of 2.2%, compared to Spain and France, which saw declines of 1.4% and 1.7%, respectively.
Despite the drop in domestic tourism, the number of foreign tourists is rising across all 27 EU countries. Spain, Italy, and Germany have all reported an increase of more than 6 percentage points in tourist overnight stays, surpassing the EU average growth of 4.7%.