International tourism

Banca d'Italia has been conducting since 1996 a survey on international tourism primarily to collect information for compiling the 'Travel' item (which includes goods and services acquired from an economy by non-residents during visits to that economy) and the 'Passenger transport services' item in Italy's balance of payments, in line with the methodological conventions laid out in the sixth edition of the IMF's manual (BPM6). The survey is based on interviews and counts of resident and non-resident travellers at the Italian borders (road and rail crossings, international ports and airports); it is integrated with administrative data and, since end-2020, with mobile phone data, where available.

The survey also serves as a useful database for operators in the tourism sector and researchers, thanks to the wide range of analytical data provided alongside those gathered strictly for balance of payment requirements. The data are available on this website both in aggregate form and as microdata.

Monthly brief on international tourism

Last June, Italy's tourism balance of payments recorded a surplus of €3.6 billion, an increase compared to the same month of 2024. Inbound tourism expenditure (€6.5 billion) rose by 6.5 percent, while outbound tourism expenditure (€2.9 billion) increased by 4.4 percent.

Overall, in the second quarter of 2025 inbound and outbound expenditure grew again year on year (Figure 1), mainly thanks to holiday travel. The increase in spending by foreigners in Italy (5.6 percent) is attributable to the rise in the number of tourists and, to a lesser extent, to higher average spending. The growth in spending abroad (5.9 percent), on the other hand, is almost entirely due to the greater number of travellers. The increase in tourism receipts involved travellers from both non-EU and EU countries (Figure 2, left panel). Conversely, tourism expenditures showed a significantly greater increase for intra-EU destinations compared to those outside the EU (9.5 percent vs. 2.5 percent, respectively; Figure 2, right panel).

Fig. 1 - Italy's inbound and outbound tourism expenditure
(3-month moving averages; year-on-year percentage changes)

Italy's inbound and outbound tourism expenditure - Fig. 1

Fig. 2 - Italy's inbound and outbound tourism expenditure by geographical area
(3-month moving averages; year-on-year percentage changes)

Italy's inbound and outbound tourism expenditure by geographical area - Fig. 2

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