Italian Villages Become Tourist-Cultural Attractions, Boosting Economy and Generating Billions in Revenue

In recent years, the most beautiful villages in Italy have become a major tourist-cultural attraction, attracting millions of visitors and contributing billions of euros to the Italian economy. According to a Deloitte study, in 2022 over 8.8 million visitors went to these villages, resulting in approximately 21.5 million overnight stays. Of those visitors, about 37% were international and 32% were day visitors. Direct spending by tourists in these villages is estimated at 4.6 billion euros, with an additional 9 billion euros of indirect and induced spending, totaling 13.8 billion euros generated in Italy. This contributes approximately 5 billion euros to the GDP, which is 0.3% of Italian GDP.

The tourism industry has had a significant impact on employment and tax revenues at a national level. In 2022, over 90,000 employed people were supported by the tourism sector in these villages. The economic impact of tourism also led to increased tax revenues for the government, amounting to more than 2.3 billion euros including approximately 1 billion euros in VAT.

The accommodation, catering, commerce and transport sectors are among the most impacted sectors by tourism in these villages, benefiting from around 60% of the total impact