Bank of Italy - 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 January, Italy's tourism balance recorded a surplus of €0.3 billion, unchanged from January 2024. Both inbound tourism expenditure (€2.9 billion) and outbound tourism expenditures (€2.6 billion) grew by approximately 6 per cent.

For the three-month period ending January 2025, there was a modest increase in tourism receipts (1.0 percent) and a marginal rise in tourism expenditures (0.3 percent) compared to the same period in 2024 (Fig. 1). Examining the latest three-month average, the higher spending by foreign travellers was exclusively driven by EU visitors (+3.4 per cent), while spending by non-EU travellers declined (-1.3 per cent; Fig. 2, left panel). Spending by Italian travellers abroad grew in EU destinations but fell in non-EU countries (+2.5 per cent vs. -1.2 per cent, respectively; Fig. 2, right panel).

With the March 31 update of balance of payments statistics, monthly and quarterly international travel data for 2024 were revised. The adjustments were minor; the tourism surplus was slightly upwardly revised to €21.2 billion (1.0 per cent of GDP). The related microdata are released together with this report. The updated edition of "Survey on International Tourism" will follow shortly.

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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Data

International tourism data are released to the public, for analysis and research purpose, as follows.

The data on tourism expenditure and on the number of travellers and overnight stays, both inbound and outbound, are published monthly and quarterly in the Tourism data tables section. The quarterly datasheets provide a greater level of detail; annual time series are also available since 1997 with the same level of disaggregation.

The full database is published annually in the Microdata distribution section. User-friendly pivot tables containing the main survey variables are also made available.

For information on how to use the data correctly, please refer to the document 'Una breve guida alle statistiche sul turismo' (A quick guide on tourism statistics - only in Italian), jointly drafted by Banca d'Italia and Istat and available for download here under 'ANALYSIS AND METHODOLOGY' and on Istat's website. The document analyses the key differences in definitions, classifications and methods between the main tourism surveys conducted by Banca d'Italia and Istat.