Tourism in Italian regions: performance and potentialities G. G. Ortolani A. Alivernini L. Buldorini 7 th INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON TOURISM STATISTICS Stockholm 9-11 June

Main features of Italy’s internal tourism expenditure patterns Presented by Andrea ALIVERNINI

Objectives of the paper Assessment of the potential tourism attractiveness of Italian regions Assessment of regional capability to capture tourism expenditure Hints on the potential regional economic development that could be gained through an optimal exploitation of tourism resources Contraints of local human resources 12

Data sources (2002) UIC Border survey on Italy’s international tourism Inbound expenditure, number of travellers and nights spent disaggregated by region ISTAT Household telephone survey on “Trips and vacations” number of travellers and nights spent by domestic travellers, disaggregate by region same-day travellers and commuters are excluded An original procedure - based on the merging of the two available sources - has been worked out in order to estimate the domestic expenditure that is not (yet) published by ISTAT

Estimation of Italy’s internal tourism expenditure 1. The estimation of the domestic expenditure N. of domestic night stays (ISTAT data) X euro area average per night expenditure of euro area travellers in Italy (UIC data) = Domestic expenditure in Italy Assumption: The average per night expenditure of euro area travellers in Italy is equal to that of domestic travellers

EXPENDITURE IN TOP REGIONS (mln. euro) Toscana6,559 Lazio6,431 Veneto6,348 Lombardia6,197 Emilia-Romagna4,196 Estimation of Italy’s internal tourism expenditure 2. The final results Italy’s total internal tourism expenditure:55,095 mln. € domestic expenditure:30,327 mln. € inbound expenditure:24,768 mln. € Internal expenditure = Domestic expenditure + Inbound expenditure

Internal tourism night stays Internal tourism - number of night stays:887,754,000 domestic tourism:555,798,000 inbound tourism:331,956,000 Sources UIC (inbound tourism) ISTAT (domestic tourism) Number of night stays (x1000) North-West169,639 North-East222,768 Centre207,464 South and Isles287,883

Purpose of travel Italy’s total internal tourism expenditure:55,095 mln. € personal reasons:44,706 “ “ business reasons:10,389“ “ Daily per-capita expenditure (euro)

Accommodation Italy’s overall daily per-capita expenditure: 55 € in hotel:107 € in other accommodation: 38 €

First considerations Domestic tourism is concentrated in Southern regions, while inbound tourism tends to address Centre and North-East regions. The capability to attract tourism expenditure mainly depends on some fundamental features of the travellers, e.g.: Inbound Business Hotel Higher level of daily per-capita expenditure

Tourism attractiveness of Italian regions Is the level of tourism expenditure adequate to the attractiveness of the region ? Does the region exploit efficiently its tourist potentiality ? pure tourist potentiality The concept of “attractiveness” in this paper refers to the pure tourist potentiality of the region (intrinsic qualities of the region), without considering the presence of adequate tourism infrastructure or promotion activities.

Tourism attractiveness of Italian regions tourism attractiveness Measuring tourism attractiveness is somewhat subjective. However, an attempt has been made analysing the reasons of the trip and using useful indicators developed by Touring Club Italiano UIC data on inbound tourism in Italy indicated that travellers’ expenditure was connected with the following aspects (reasons): 33% cultural 27% environmental 5% social 15% visits to friends and relatives 20% business

Cultural. Based on the inventory of art and cultural assets weighted by their importance (TCI). Environmental. Based on indices assessing the quality of the environment (TCI and UIC). Social. Based on the offer of social activities and events (TCI). Regions’ total population. Neutral assumption on visits which are supposed to be in relation with the number of people living in the region. Regions’ GDP in services. The level of economic activity in services is assumed to be the main trigger of business trips. Tourism attractiveness of Italian regions attractiveness indicators As people travel for different reasons, they are attracted by different features of the destination. Depending on the reasons of the trip different attractiveness indicators have been used.

Tourism attractiveness of Italian regions The overall indicator It is obtained weighting the five attractiveness indicators with the shares of each type of tourism in total inbound expenditure in 2002 Italy = 1000

Tourism attractiveness of Italian regions The degree of exploitation of tourism potential It is obtained as the ratio between the internal tourism expenditure and the attractiveness of the region

Tourism attractiveness of Italian regions Relationship between degree of exploitation of tourism potential and economic development of the regions Regions with a better economic development seem to make a better use of tourism resources

Tourism and regional development Quantification of the impact of tourism expenditure on regional economies based on a work by CISET on regional activation matrices for tourism consumption activates direct and indirect 1 EUR million of tourism expenditure activates 0.8 EUR millions of value added and 28 employees - direct and indirect effects are taken into account The work also estimates the regional dispersion of value added activation as tourism consumption can stimulate production also outside the visited region For instance, Italian northern regions typically increase their production through consumption activation in southern regions

Tourism and regional development Tourism expenditure is increased in those regions with unexploited potential, up to the national average degree of exploitation of tourism potential Labour force availability in the region (No inter-regional labour mobility is assumed) Tourism expenditure is increased only in regions having both a) some unexploited tourism potential and b) a relatively high unemployment rate Simulation Constraint

Activation of tourism resources Regions having a low degree of exploitation accompanied by a high unemployment rate (inside the ellipse) are the candidates for an increase of their tourism expenditure. They all belong to the South area

Tourism expenditure is activated leading to a decrease of unemployment rate. Yellow point = current situationPurple point = simulated situation The final impact on employment depends on: potential for tourism expenditure increase and production structure of the region. Activation of tourism resources

Conclusions Italian regions appear to be very differentiated as for their pure tourist potential and its degree of exploitation. Some regions succeed in attracting tourism expenditure adequate to their attractiveness, some others fail. A better exploitation of tourist resources could represent an important opportunity of development, in particular for region suffering of a relatively high unemployment rate, as it is the case for several Southern regions of Italy.

Future improvements and other considerations Availability of domestic tourism expenditure Consideration of trans-regional effects: labour force mobility labour force mobility tourism competition among regions tourism competition among regions Possibility of negative effects of tourism development Possibility of negative effects of tourism development socio-cultural modifications of the destinations (life-styles, traditions, system of values) socio-cultural modifications of the destinations (life-styles, traditions, system of values) crowding out process (tendency towards a mono-sectoral economy) crowding out process (tendency towards a mono-sectoral economy)

Tourism attractiveness and economic development of Italian regions Presented by Luca BULDORINI