tourism-italia.com

According to the npr website, the economic slowdown has finally hit Italy with the tourism sector shrinking by 25% since 2008. Apparently it is the Americans who the Italians are missing the most as data from the Bank of Italy shows that there were 2.5 million American tourists in 2006 compared to just 1.75 million in the first nine months of last year. This is worrying news as the tourism industry is worth 10% of Italy’s GDP and 150,000 people who were dependent on tourism have already lost their jobs. With a lack of italia.it website and fewer local tourists, Italy may not have seen the worst of this recession yet. However, more people may now be able to visit Italy with big brands having to cut their prices!

According to Confturismo Confcommercio, the Italian tourism organisation, less Italians are being tourists in their home country and are saving their pennies in the turbulent economic climate. However, it’s not all doom and gloom. The good news is that many foreign tourists are still flocking to Italy, it is just the Italians who are tightening their spending. Statistics show that last year there was an increase of 1.5% in the number of rooms rented by foreign tourists compared to 2006, whereas the number of rooms rented by Italians decreased by 1.5 million from 140.4 million to 138.9 million. Although many peope think that in a recession we should be tightening our spending, if we don’t support our local tourist attractions and businesses, when we come out the other side of it we won’t have very many places left to spend our money. Just consider that the next time you consider whether or not to have a holiday at home.