According to the latest ISTAT reports, Italy is observing an immense increase in tourism. From the provisional indications relating to the first two months of 2024, tourism is confirmed further growing: total attendance increased by 3.4% compared to the same period of the previous year.
On the other hand, based on provisional data referring to 2023, tourist presence in Italy increased by 8.3% compared to the previous year. The highest ratio for this reason is due to foreign tourists which grew by 15.4% in a year.
There might be concerns about issuing Schengen visas in the future due to this matter. But nothing can be said until authorities finalize something. Most of the visitors to Italy are usually from the EU countries.
International tourists increased
As already occurred in 2022, the increase in tourist flows was mainly attributed to the foreign tourists which grew by 15.4% in one year. On the other hand, the domestic clientele increased by 1.5%.
However, the return to exceptionally intense tourist flows is also accompanied by phenomena of concentration of presences and congestion of the main attraction destinations, typical of over-tourism. For example, in the 12 municipalities classified as “Large cities with multidimensional tourism”7 (which account for 15.3% of the national population) accounted for 19.7% of the total presence in 2019 in the country; this share, which had fallen to 18.3% in 2020, would have risen, according to the provisional estimates, at 20.2% in 2023.
Demand for international tourists exceeded
In 2023, demand from foreign tourists has thus returned to exceed that of tourists in Italy, reaching 52.0% of the total presence recorded in all accommodation establishments.
The boom in the hotel industry
Concerning the types of accommodation, presence in the sector in the last year hotel industry (which in 2023 represented 61.7% of the total) has grown significantly higher than those in the non-hotel sector (+9.0% compared to +7.1%).
The tourist presences detected for the year 2023 represent a new historical record for Italy, also exceeding 2019 (+2.2%). The increase in international tourists has been +5.1% compared with the previous highest ratio. Similarly, it is above all that the customers in foreign countries are driving growth (+9.9%), while Italian growth is decreasing (-2.1%).
Paying a fee for visiting Venice city
The administration of Venice city, due to over-tourism has set a tax of 5 Euros per day to tackle over-tourism issues. There will be a fine of 50 to 300 Euro finding someone has not paid the 5 Euros tax. This step makes Venice the first city in the world to implement a tax on visiting the city.
The new rules will be implemented till mid-July between 8:30 to 16:00 also mostly on weekends and upfront for ten days.
Top countries nationals that visit Italy
Following are the top countries whose nationals visited Italy the most over the past 4 years.
| Citizens of Countries | 2019 (in millions) | 2020 (in millions) | 2021 (in millions) | 2022 (in millions) |
| Germany | 16.2 | 5.7 | 5.2 | 12.8 |
| France | 12.8 | 6.3 | 6.3 | 10.1 |
| Austria | 8 | 3.1 | 3.8 | 6.4 |
| Switzerland | 13.3 | 5.5 | 4.6 | 5.5 |
| United Kingdom | 6.4 | 1.9 | 1 | 4.7 |
| Spain | 3.5 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 4.3 |
| United States | 4.4 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 2.9 |
| Netherlands | 2.3 | 1 | 1.2 | 2.8 |
| Belgium | 1.4 | 0.8 | 0.7 | 1.3 |
| Canada | 1.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.6 |