International arrivals in Italy are constantly increasing. But tourists spend less than in other competing countries. These are the findings announced by Confturismo-Confocommercio following a comparative analysis including both Spain and France.
According to the data, foreign arrivals in Italy increased by 8 million in the last six years, from 42 million in 2008 to more than 50 million last year. 2014 brought 184 million overnight stays and total revenue of 34 billion Euros.
Foreign tourists mainly come to Italy from Europe, particularly from Germany, France and United Kingdom. The analysis also recorded a steep increase of non-European tourists. The United States are the source of the second biggest amount of arrivals to date.
Spain reached 50.8 million foreign arrivals. Its 2014 income, though, is higher than the Italian one, reaching 49 billion Euros. Same for France – fewer arrivals (46 million) but a much bigger income, namely 42 billion Euros.
What are the reasons for the decrease of revenue in Italy? First of all, the prices for overnight stays differ significantly across the countries – with an average of 186 Euros in Italy, compared to 312 Euros for France. The shorter stay can also be held responsible: visitors spend on average 3.7 days in Italy and 5.1 days in Spain.
Confturismo-Confcommercio estimated 14 billion Euros increase in revenues if tourists in Italy spent the same average time as in Spain. According to the analysis, it is necessary to rely on every kind of tourism including Southern Italy and its potential. This part of the country, in fact, records only 6 million arrivals. Only 12 tourists out of 100 choose a holiday in the South. The results of the analysis will be discussed by the Italian tourist board.