In 2023, overnight stays by foreign tourists in Italy broke all previous historical records, reaching 234 million presences in all types of accommodation establishments (hotels and non-hotels): essentially, 13 and a half million nights more than in 2019 (+6.1%), the year before the pandemic. And Italy, in particular, confirmed its position the European Union nation with the most overnight stays by tourists from other continents (with 54 million nights, 27% of EU market share), ahead of Spain (35 million nights) and France (27 million nights).
Furthermore, according to the first preliminary data from Eurostat, in 2023 Italy should have confirmed its position as the first EU country for the presence of German tourists (63 million nights), Swiss (12 million nights), Polish (8 million nights), Turkish (almost 1.5 million nights) and Russian (1.5 million nights). While with regard to non-European origins, Italy was the EU country with the highest presence of US, Canadian, Japanese, South Korean, Australian and South African tourists. It was the Americans, in particular, who drove the Italian tourist market, also attracted by the favourable euro/dollar exchange rate. With 21.4 million overnight stays by US tourists last year, Italy clearly outpaced Spain (10.8 million overnight stays) and France (9.5 million overnight stays) in the EU.
Overall, in 2023 the number of American tourists in Italy was more than 5 million nights higher than in 2019, before the pandemic: +31.2%. A real invasion, more than welcome, which over the last ten years has progressively led Americans to overtake the French and the English among the countries that most prefer Italy as a tourist destination, conquering second place behind the Germans. Among the regions and provinces, Rome was literally taken by storm by the Americans (6.5 million overnight stays, 1.7 million more than in 2019). As well as Tuscany (3.7 million, +700 thousand), followed by Veneto (2.8 million, +400 thousand) and Campania (2.2 million, +500 thousand).
Shopping
American tourists have now become the top international visitors to Campania. This is a very positive fact because Americans are tourists with a high spending capacity. In 2008, however, the first year for which Istat provided detailed data, the top international tourists to Campania were Germans (1.5 million overnight stays) followed by the British (1.4 million nights) and the French (900 thousand nights). At that time, Americans were only fourth (650 thousand nights). Subsequently, there was a growing interest among Americans in Campania and, among foreign origins in the region, the United States first overtook France in 2012, then Germany in 2018 and finally the United Kingdom in 2022.
Naples (1 million 558 thousand overnight stays in 2023) is the Campania province most frequented by Americansfollowed by Salerno (647 thousand nights). In the ranking of Italian provinces favored by American tourists, Naples occupies fourth place (after Rome, Florence and Venice), while Salerno is sixth after Milan and precedes Siena and Como.
It should be noted that in the last ten years (2014-2023) Campania has been, among the five largest Italian regions visited, the one that has recorded the strongest percentage increase in the presence of American tourists (+164% compared to 2013), ahead of Lombardy (+146%), Veneto (+80%), Tuscany (+65%) and Lazio (+50%).
The territories
While among the top ten most visited Italian provinces, Salerno is the one that has seen the greatest increase in overnight stays by Americans since 2013 (+256%), ahead of Bolzano (+243%) and Como (+212%). In turn, Naples (+138%) was sixth, slightly preceded by Messina (+146%) and Milan (+144%), ahead of Venice (+78%), Florence and Siena (both +68%) and Rome (+51%).
A final point to highlight concerns Australia and Canada. In 2023, the presence of these two nationalities in Campania was also well above pre-Covid levels, with 79 thousand more nights by Australians and 38 thousand more by Canadians.
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