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
Italy's tourism balance recorded a surplus of nearly €0.7 billion last December, remained stable year-on-year. Inbound tourism expenditure (amounting to €3.0 billion) grew by 6.6 per cent, while outbound tourism expenditure (amounting to €2.4 billion) rose by 7.3 per cent.
Overall, in the fourth quarter of 2025, both flows increased: revenues by 4.1 percent and expenditures by 1.6 percent compared with the same period of 2024 (Figure 1). Spending by foreigners in Italy grew at a similar pace for both EU and non-EU residents (by 3.6 and 4.5 percent, respectively; Fig. 2, left panel). Spending by Italians abroad increased only in EU destinations (3.9 percent), while a slight decline was recorded in non-EU destinations (-0.2 percent; Fig. 2, right panel).
According to preliminary data, for the whole of 2025, the tourism balance recorded a surplus of €22.8 billion (€21.2 billion in 2024), equal to 1.0 percent of GDP. Both tourism revenues and expenditures increased, by 4.8 and 3.1 percent respectively. In both cases, the growth was driven by a higher number of travellers; instead, per-capita spending showed only a modest increase for foreign tourists in Italy, while it decreased slightly for Italians abroad. Inbound tourism expenditure increased both for EU and non-EU travellers (by 4.1 and 5.5 percent, respectively). Italy's outbound tourism expenditure grew mainly in EU destinations (5.1 percent), and to a much smaller extent in non-EU destinations (1.3 percent). On the receipts side, holidays accounted for 67 per cent of total spending, while on the expenditure side - although strongly increasing - they represented a lower share (53 per cent), reflecting the greater weight of business travel (21 per cent, compared with 11 per cent for foreigners in Italy). For both flows, there was a further increase in overnight stays in hotels, B&Bs, holiday villages, and agritourism, which accounted for 44 per cent of total overnight stays for both Italians abroad and foreigners in Italy; rental homes accounted for about 24 percent of overnight stays in both cases.
The final data on international tourism for 2025 will be published on April 14.
Fig. 1 - Italy's inbound and outbound tourism expenditure
(3-month moving averages; year-on-year percentage changes)
Fig. 2 - Italy's inbound and outbound tourism expenditure by geographical area
(3-month moving averages; year-on-year percentage changes)
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