AGI – The most beautiful villages in Italy with around 9 million visitors, contribute over 5 billion euros a year to the Italian economy as a tourist-cultural attraction. This is stated in the Deloitte study “The economic and employment impact of tourism and digitalisation in the most beautiful villages in Italy”. The overall visitors to the “Most beautiful villages in Italy” were over 8.8 million in 2022, for a total of approximately 21.5 million overnight stays. Approximately 37% of these visitors are international, while approximately 32% are day visitors. Direct spending in Italy resulting from tourist presences in the Villages in 2022 is estimated at approximately 4.6 billion euros. Against this direct expenditure, over 9 billion euros of additional indirect and induced expenditure are estimated, for a total of approximately 13.8 billion euros of overall expenditure generated in Italy.
Net of intermediate consumption, Deloitte therefore estimates a contribution to GDP of approximately 5 billion euros, equivalent to 0.3% of Italian GDP. It also estimates that tourism in the Villages supported over 90,000 employed people in 2022 and had an important positive effect on tax revenues at a national level, amounting to more than 2.3 billion euros, of which approximately 1 billion euros in VAT. The most impacted sectors are accommodation and catering, commerce and transport, benefiting from around 60% of the total impact.
The villages certified by the Association “The most beautiful villages in Italy” through an evaluation process which is itself ISO 9001 certified are currently 362, spread throughout the national territory: Marche (31 villages), Umbria (31) and Tuscany (29 ) record the highest number of villages, confirming a particularly concentrated presence in the Center (32.2%). Trentino-Alto Adige, Tuscany, Liguria, Marche and Lombardy, however, are the regions that received the most visitors. Considering the economic impact generated by tourism in the Villages in 2022 as a percentage of GDP, the Deloitte study estimates that this is greater in the Center and North-East. In particular, the areas in which the economic contribution as a percentage of GDP is greatest are the Center and North-East, with around 0.4% of GDP, followed by the Islands, with over 0.3% of GDP.
Given the economic and social impact highlighted, the villages are however characterized by an accentuated phenomenon of depopulation, much greater than the average of Italian municipalities. In particular, the municipalities present in the list of the “Most beautiful villages in Italy”, according to Istat, have an average population equal to approximately half that of the Italian municipalities as a whole. In the period 2011-2021, there was an average reduction in the resident population in the Villages of -4.2%, compared to a reduction in the resident population at a national level of 0.7% in the same period. It is expected that this phenomenon will accentuate in the period 2020-2030, with a variation of -4.4% in the villages compared to an average reduction of -2.8% in the Italian municipalities. Thus, the population residing in the most beautiful villages in Italy in 2030 is estimated to be approximately 1,285,000 people compared to 1,344,000 people in 2020.
From the analyzes conducted by Deloitte, it emerges that the historical evolution of Ultra-Broadband coverage in the most beautiful villages in Italy has been growing strongly in recent years, both considering the municipalities and the real estate units covered: to date 63.9 % of the villages enjoy “Fiber to the Home” coverage, a very significant percentage, if we consider that in 2019 alone this reached only 2.2%. Only with such infrastructural development, in fact, will it be possible to reduce the market gap and create attractive economic and social development conditions for workers. A very encouraging piece of data is the growth in the number of workers who have begun to stay in the villages in smart-working mode following the Covid-19 pandemic.
This phenomenon seems to confirm an ongoing trend. In fact, according to research by Inapp, 41.5% of workers would be willing to move to a more isolated place in contact with nature and 34.5% to a small town. This is a phenomenon to be observed in parallel with the average level of digitalisation of companies, which recorded a significant improvement in 2022; according to Istat data, companies with a “High” or “Very high” level of digitalisation, measured on the basis of the digital activities that companies are able to cover, have reached around 32% in the North-West and the 29% in the North-East. In the Center and the South, the percentage, although increasing, remains at a lower level (23%).
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