In 2023, the tourism sector in Italy generated a value equal to 18% of GDP: 368 billion euros, compared to an expenditure of 155 billion, with a multiplier effect of 2.5. These are the numbers compiled by Tor Vergata University, which also emphasize the growth in numbers related also to business travel and tourism triggered by trade fairs, which show growing numbers.

For tourism Italy has only one goal, which is to deseasonalize. We still have to recover 50 million presences, the real numbers are that today France makes 106 million with Benelux, Spain makes 85, Italy makes 57. We have 5.1 million beds, France has the same number but makes twice as many presences.

Domestic tourism spending has a multiplier effect of 2.5, generating a total value added of 250 billion euros, or 12% of GDP; where, on the other hand, international tourism spending has a multiplier effect of 1.65 on value added, leading to a 6 percent increase in GDP, less than that generated by domestic spending, but just as significant.

In addition, total tourism spending generates or supports about 50 jobs for every million euros spent. The South in 2024 is growing more than twice as fast as the North, thanks in part to tourism. In fact, with spending accounting for 20 percent of total admissions, there is an increase in added value in the South, entirely attributable to the effect of tourism growth, amounting to about 15% of GDP.

Positive data also show business travel spending in Italy, which exceeds 30 billion euros in 2023, an increase of 43% over the previous year, allowing the country to rank seventh in the world for business travel with an expected value of 40 billion euros by 2027. The study highlights how the more than 500 events organized annually in Italy attract 20 million visitors, including 1.5 million from abroad.

Data from the study reveal that business tourism triggered by trade fairs contributes 4% of national tourism spending, generating more than 10 billion euros in production value, with employment returns estimated at about 90 thousand workers. Trade fairs produce a multiplier effect of 2.4: every euro spent by the average high-spending trade fair tourist generates more than 2 euros in the territorial economy.