Starting from the late 90's, foreign business travellers' expenditure in Italy has diminished significantly. To understand the reasons behind this decline, this work analyses how recent trends in business travel are explained by the intensity of the economic ties (exports and imports, but also inward and outward FDIs) of the Italian regions to the business travellers' countries of origin.
Foreigners' expenditure on business travel is concentrated in the North and in Lazio, and it is correlated more to international trade than to FDIs (inward and outward). The recent fall is caused by the weaker business cycle in the Italian regions in relation to its partner countries; in sectors that are intensive in standardized employment activities, the decline is also caused by the growing use of distance communication, such as videoconferencing.
