An Overview of Italy and Türkiye Tourism Data

I continue to analyze the destinations that rank first in the world in terms of tourism revenues and tourist numbers. My second stop is Italy! As I mentioned many times in my articles, I believe in numbers rather than what people say. Let’s have a look at what the late British Philosopher #ThomasHobbes said. “The…

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19 Aralık 2023

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I continue to analyze the destinations that rank first in the world in terms of tourism revenues and tourist numbers. My second stop is Italy!

As I mentioned many times in my articles, I believe in numbers rather than what people say.

Let’s have a look at what the late British Philosopher #ThomasHobbes said.

“The sheep will spend its entire life fearing the wolf, only to be eaten by the shepherd”

We develop as much as we see the facts. Here is another question that is at least as important as development; How much do we want to develop?

Some of the questions that I looked for answers to in this article are as follows:

1-What are the statistics on Italy tourism?

2-What are the prominent topics in Italy’s tourism policies? What is Italy doing for sustainable tourism?

3-How many cities from Italy are included in the European unsafe city index list?

4-Based on domestic market revenues, where does Italy rank?

5-What are the strengths of Italy tourism in terms of destination image?

6-What do the years 1863 and 1919 mean for Italian tourism?

7-Which country is aware of the values included in the UNESCO World Heritage list?

*I shared the source links of the data I used at the bottom of the article.

In my previous article “A General Overview of France & Turkey Tourism Data”, I provided detailed data about Turkey, so I would like to share it for the information of those who want more information.

I would like to start with Italy’s tourism statistics.

When we look at UNWTO 2022 figures, the number of tourists visiting Italy is almost the same as Turkey.

When we look at the seasonal distribution, we see a typical Mediterranean country.

While there is a more mixed visitor distribution for Turkey, the rate of European visitors is much higher for Italy.

Based on 2021, Italy is a country with a population of approximately 60 million. According to 2019 statistics in the OECD 2022 Tourism Policy Report, approximately 2.1 million people are working in the tourism sector in Italy, and these people constituted approximately 9% of total employment. Tourism workers contributed to approximately 218,000 businesses.

IMPORTANT; 56.4% of the expenditures made for tourism in 2019 came from Domestic Tourism.! Figures show that Domestic Tourism dominates Italy’s tourism.

According to the same report, the Ministry of Tourism was established in 2021, whose entire concentration is only on tourism.

Among the focuses of this ministry: Are critical missions such as national strategic coordination, implementation of development plans, planning of mechanisms for tourism and playing an active role in innovative steps. I have shared the table below showing the hierarchical structure of the ministry.

The Ministry of Tourism supports and supervises the Italian National Tourist Board (ENIT), which has been operating since 1919 and has 26 offices around the world. Club Alpino Italiano which has been operating since 1863 with mountaineering motivation is among the units supported and supervised by the ministry.

Each region in Italy has 3-year living and executive powers. The United Conference, a public institution that acts as a bridge between the central government and local institutions, determines plans, strategies, and road maps at the regional level. Various decisions are taken and implemented in these meetings. I have shared some of the items that caught my attention below.

1-Standardization of tour operators and accommodation facilities

2-Supporting the image of the region at national and international levels

3-Encouraging projects of regional interest

According to the decisions taken in the 2022 Italian Budget Law, the tourism budget for 2022-2023 is € 120 million and € 40 million in 2024.

Turkey’s total budget of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism for 2024 was accepted as approximately 1.2 million €.

When it comes to budget, it is useful to look at the export shares for both countries. Tourism is a very important income item for Türkiye!

In the report, I have also shared below some of the items that caught my attention in the road map for strategic planning covering the years 2023-2027.

1-A shared and traceable working model should be targeted.

2-A sustainable and integrated tourism system is required.

3-A sustainable transportation model and policies that respect nature should be produced.

4-Tourism should be encouraged for everyone in terms of safety, accessibility, and quality.

5-Quality should be sought in every tourism product offered.

6-Tourism-oriented courses and training need to be examined. Educational alternatives, especially technical high schools and universities, should be increased.

According to the World Travel & Tourism Council Travel & Tourism Economic Impact 2022 report, Turkey cannot find a place in the top 20 in domestic tourist spending rates, while Italy ranks 4th.

In the OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2020 report, a plan in the form of value increase for the sustainability of tourism has been published. I also wanted to highlight a few prominent titles in the table below;

1-Evaluation of local products and brands under the theme of “brand positioning”

2-Increasing transportation

3-Creating economic value through events

4-Creating awareness of respect for local communities and social responsibility

There are 5,568 municipalities in Italy with a population of less than 5,000, called Borghi villages. These destinations offer 51,000 accommodation establishments with 1.4 million bed spaces and attract more than 21 million visitors who stay 90 million nights. Moreover, 64% of the 55 UNESCO sites in Italy are represented in these locations, and the seasonality of cultural tourism encourages more off-season demand, as it does not coincide with peak demand times.

We are missing something, that’s why Italy is ahead of Turkey in some issues, at least the table below says so!

I also found a different table on the World Tourism Organization’s website. But it says something similar!

There are 2 more paintings for those who want to take a closer look.

Italy’s income per capita according to the world tourism income ranking is as follows (2022)

Turkey’s income per capita according to the world tourism income ranking is as follows (2022)

The study titled “Factors Affecting the Differences in Tourism Revenues of Destinations: A Conceptual Approach” published by the valuable academicians of Adnan Menderes University and Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University was examined and divided Quantitatively / Qualitatively.

A-Quantitative Factors

1-Expenditure per capita

2-Income per capita

3-Holiday budget

4-Informality

5-Labor costs/costs

6-Number of tourists coming to the country

B-Qualitative Factors

1-Touristic product diversity

2-Service quality and customer satisfaction

3-Competition and efficiency

4-Transportation network and quality

5-Shopping Opportunities and Activities

6-Nationality (coverage of both spending and holiday time)

I think the quantitative parts gain meaning during the rotation of their units. Otherwise, we are always focused on today. Efficiency and continuity should be essential for qualified results.

According to the 2019 report of BoldData company, the number of accommodation establishments in Italy is approximately 32,803. As noticed by careful readers, there are differences in the number of facilities according to the OECD 2020 reports shown above. However, the subject that wants to draw your attention is “numbers related to star category”. Italy has low star category facilities but seems to they are focusing to quality.

According to the processes of the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the current number of hotels in Turkey is 20,990. According to the table in the study “A Geographical View of Tourist Accommodation Types and Distribution in Turkey” conducted by valuable academicians from Marmara University and Bingöl University, the number of 5-star hotels in Turkey is much more than in Italy. Italy earns more than us in terms of income!

I want to continue with some interesting images. When I looked at the safest European countries on worldpopulationreview.com, I could not see Italy.

On Numbeo.com, I saw a list titled “Europe: Current Crime Index by Cities” and among the top 50 cities, let’s guess that I found cities from which country?

Despite the list above, when you search for the most popular cities in Italy, you will see some familiar cities on the Worlddata.info website.

As we approach the end of the article, I want to see the values on the Unesco World Heritage list.

Italy Unesco statistics are as follows.

Türkiye UNESCO Statistics are as follows.

I shared the UNESCO list because there is an issue that wants to attract your attention. According to the passage quoted above in the OECD 2020 report, the number of businesses in rural areas, which occupy more than 60% of the values on the Unesco list in Italy, is 51,000 and the number of visitors is more than 21 million. Well, when we look at the locations of the values in Turkey on the UNESCO list, is there a similar number of businesses or visitors?

According to the Visititaly.eu website, the factors that make up the welcome feature that brings Italian tourism to the fore are listed as follows;

1-Smiling Faces

2-Restaurants with quality cuisine

3-Transfer and car rental services

4-Tourist information centers

5-Accommodation place alternatives that make you feel at home

At first glance, we may think as tourism professionals that the current characteristics are valid in our own country`s tourism as well, but we need to ask whether they convert into figures in terms of income.

I would like to touch on the points that impressed me about Italian tourism.

1-It can be considered as a correct example showing how important the destination image is for Italy.

2-They have a vision of identifying rural tourism and the historical texture of tourism and spreading tourism for 12 months.

3-They manage to generate high income by using the power of the destination image

4-They focus on quality instead of quantity

5-The power and reliability of domestic tourists

6-There are visionary perspectives on diversifying tourism

I shared once more again below part that I shared already in the introductory part:

We shouldn`t be afraid of numbers. For sustainable tourism, we must carefully examine our competitors and accurately reflect our destination image. We can save the day by ignoring the possibilities, but who said our problem is “today”? We develop as we live the truth. Here is another question that is at least as important as development; How much do we want to develop?

I would like to end the article with aphorisms from the late American writer #ArthurMiller. They say there is no age to learn, but the sooner the better!

“Those who learn in advance learn from the price of the reward.

Those who learn from authority learn at the price of freedom.

Those who learn by trying to learn from the sticker price.

Those who learn from life learn with late payment.

Those who cannot learn from life learn with their wasted lives.”

Have a great week ahead.

Yakup Demir, 18 December 2023

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/safest-countries-in-europe

https://www.numbeo.com/crime/region_rankings_current.jsp?region=150&displayColumn=0

https://www.unwto.org/tourism-data/global-and-regional-tourism-performance

acarindex-1449666320.pdf erişimi için tıklayın

EIR2022-Global%20Trends.pdf erişimi için tıklayın