The sample survey on Italy's international tourism for 2022 is now available. The survey, which contributes to the compilation of the "services" item of the balance of payments, collects data on tourism expenditure, inbound and outbound visitors and the main characteristics of the trip.
The results of the survey, conducted on the basis of interviews and counts of resident and non-resident travelers transiting through the Italian borders, show a doubling of both tourism receipts and expenditures in 2022 compared to the previous year. Both flows returned close to pre-pandemic levels; in real terms, however, they are still lower. The expenditure of travelers from the EU and that of non-EU travelers contributed equally to the growth of tourism revenues in Italy; for the latter, the strong increase in receipts from the United States and, to a lesser extent, from the United Kingdom had a major impact. Spending on holiday travel was largely driven by cultural travel and visits to cities of art, which had been most penalized during the pandemic. Spending associated with business travel has also increased significantly. In a context of recovery in international tourism at a global level, with the exception of Asian countries where movement restrictions continued for most of 2022, Italy's market share grew significantly.
