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Bank of Italy published balance of payments data as regards tourism sector (i.e. expenditure of foreigner tourists in Italy vs. expenditure of Italian tourists abroad). In the first seven months of the year the balance is positive for Italy, even if it contracted (-17.82% — 6,794 mln € in jan-jul ’08, vs. 5,583 mln € in jan-jul ’09).

It’s interesting to note that this contraction is the result of a smaller reduction of Italian expenditure abroad,compared to foreigner expediture in Italy: the first diminished -3.4% (from 11,309 mln € to 10,929 mln €), while the secondo diminisherd 8.8% (18,103 mln € to 16,512 mln €).

Spesa dei turisti italiani all'estero e dei turisti stranieri in Italia / Foreigner tourist expenditure in Italy vs. Italian tourist expenditure abroad

The bigger part of the expenditure comes from EU countries’ tourists (between 63% annd 65%, depending on the year), and Germany is the single most relevant country (21.06 of total touristic expenditure in Italy in 2005, 16.92% in 2008).

Spesa dei turisti stranieri in Italia, per continente di provenienza

Spesa dei turisti stranieri in Italia, per Paese di provenienza

Expenditure per capita (expenditure per country/arrivals per country) is definitely interesting, since shows very different results. In fact, Cuba, Russia, China, India and Australia have the higher touristic expenditure per capita in Italy.

Spesa pro-capite dei turisti stranieri in Italia, per continente di provenienza

Spesa pro-capite dei turisti stranieri in Italia, per Paese di provenienza

These differences (beside possible errors due to smaller numbers — 4.000 tourists only from Cuba between January ’09 and July ’09) can be quite easily explained. First, it’s quite logical that tourist that come from furthest away countries stay more, therefore spend more. Second, in coutries where wealth is non homogeneously, there are also a lot of rich people that can spend a lot. Third, “tourism” does not include only leisure travels, but might also include visits to family members immigrated in Italy, or a business travel.

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Bilancia dei pagamenti turistica: i dati del periodo gennaio-luglio 2009