Tourism in Italy

Italy recorded a total of 95 m tourists in 2019, ranking 6th in the world in absolute terms.

Without including the size of a country, such a ranking list may not be very meaningful. By putting the tourist numbers in relation to the population of Italy, the result is much more comparable picture: With 1.6 tourists per resident, Italy ranked 57th in the world. In Southern Europe, it ranked 11th.

Italy generated around 51.91 bn US Dollar in the tourism sector alone. This corresponds to 2.8 percent of its the gross domestic product and approximately 42 percent of all international tourism receipts in Southern Europe.

A global comparison can be found here › International tourism

Back to overview: Italy

Most popular destinations in Italy

No less than 4 cities in Italy are among the top 100 most popular destinations worldwide. In 2019 Rome reached the 17th place with 10.32 m tourists. According to Euromonitor, all foreign tourists with at least one overnight stay were counted.

City	Tourists	Rank	Change
Rome	10,317,000	#17	+2.5%
Milan	6,604,400	#40	+1.9%
Venice	5,590,500	#48	+1.6%
Florence	5,125,700	#52	+1.3%

On average, each of the tourists arriving in 2019 spent about 476 US Dollars. Conversely, the inhabitants of Italy spend as much as 534 dollars a year when they themselves spend vacations abroad.

Art and culture as a tourist magnet

With about 7600 km of coastline and a location on the Mediterranean Sea, Italy attracts tens of millions of guests from all over the world every year. In particular, the inhabitants of the more northerly European countries are drawn to Italy because of its pleasantly warm climate. Italy is known worldwide for its unique history, culture and architecture. There are over 100,000 historical monuments in the country, many of which date back to the times of the ancient Roman Empire. Over 50 of them have been listed by UNESCO as World Heritage Sites - more than in any other country. The city centers of Rome, Venice and Florence resemble a huge open-air museum. Builders from antiquity to the Renaissance have immortalized themselves in numerous cities with imposing monuments. World-famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Micheangelo and Raphael come from Italy.

But even away from art and culture, small towns in rural regions such as Tuscany attract visitors with an idyllic flair of dreamy alleys and vast wine-growing areas. Long sandy beaches in a warm Mediterranean climate offer sun-seekers plenty of variety in the warm summer months. Depending on the region, it can get over 30 degrees in the summer. Even in winter it is considerably warmer than in other parts of Europe.

The north of the country borders on the Alps, so in the winter months skiing is also a popular sport among tourists. A total of 290 ski resorts invite you to go cross-country skiing, downhill skiing or snowboarding. However, with the immense number of visitors from April to November, winter sports can't quite keep up.

Development of the tourism sector in Italy from 1995 to 2019

The following chart shows the number of tourist arrivals registered in Italy each year. Anyone who spends at least one night in the country but does not live there for more than 12 months is considered a tourist. Insofar as the survey included the purpose of the trip, business trips and other non-tourism travel purposes have already been excluded. The number of people passing through within the same day, and e.g. crew members of ships or flights are also not considered as tourists in most countries. If the same person travels in and out more than once within the same year, each visit counts again.

Data in the chart are given in millions of tourists. The red line represents the average of all 14 countries in Southern Europe.

Revenues in tourism

In 1995, tourism revenues amounted to 30.41 bn USD, or about 2.6 percent of the gross national product. This corresponded to about 55.71 m tourists at that time and roughly 546 USD per person. Within 24 years, the country's dependence on tourism has decreased slightly. In the last year of the survey, the revenue now amounts to 51.91 bn USD, accounting for 2.6 percent of the gross national product. Each visitor now spends an average of 544 USD for his holiday in Italy.

All data for Italy in detail

Year	Numberof tourists	Receipts	% of GNP	Income per tourist
2019	95.40 m	51.91 bn $	2.6 %	544 $
2018	93.23 m	51.60 bn $	2.5 %	553 $
2017	89.93 m	46.72 bn $	2.4 %	519 $
2016	84.93 m	42.42 bn $	2.3 %	500 $
2015	81.07 m	41.42 bn $	2.3 %	511 $
2014	77.69 m	45.56 bn $	2.1 %	586 $
2013	76.76 m	43.83 bn $	2.0 %	571 $
2012	76.29 m	40.94 bn $	2.0 %	537 $
2011	75.87 m	43.27 bn $	1.9 %	570 $
2010	73.23 m	38.43 bn $	1.8 %	525 $
2009	71.69 m	40.38 bn $	1.8 %	563 $
2008	70.72 m	46.19 bn $	1.9 %	653 $
2007	70.27 m	46.14 bn $	2.1 %	657 $
2006	66.35 m	41.65 bn $	2.1 %	628 $
2005	59.23 m	38.37 bn $	2.1 %	648 $
2004	58.48 m	37.87 bn $	2.1 %	648 $
2003	63.03 m	32.59 bn $	2.1 %	517 $
2002	63.56 m	28.19 bn $	2.2 %	444 $
2001	60.96 m	26.92 bn $	2.3 %	442 $
2000	62.70 m	28.71 bn $	2.5 %	458 $
1999	59.52 m	29.57 bn $	2.4 %	497 $
1998	58.50 m	31.34 bn $	2.5 %	536 $
1997	58.00 m	31.42 bn $	2.5 %	542 $
1996	59.81 m	31.88 bn $	2.4 %	533 $
1995	55.71 m	30.41 bn $	2.6 %	546 $

All data correspond to the information of the World Tourism Organization.

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