Significance of Italy’s Tourism Industry
Question:
In 2015 the Five Countries with the greatest number of tourist arrivals were France, the United States, Spain, China, and Italy. Choose One and briefly Outline the Nature and Significance of Tourism in that Country. Then Discuss and Compare two Issues that are Facing Tourism in that Country today.
The tourism industry of Italy has become the most significant growth provider to country’s economy in past few years. According to Mariani et al. (2014), this trend will continue in the year of 2017 and 2018. It is also expected that in Italy the gross domestic product will increase by 10% and tourism by 2% by the end of 2017. The tourism industry of Italy currently employs nearly 3 million people, which is 13% of the Italian workforce. The most amazing thing about the tourism industry of Italy is it is not affected by the crippling environment and international competition of increasing supply on a global scale. Number of tourists that arrived in Italy has increased by 3% in the year of 2016, and it is expected that this number will grow in 2017b also (Di Foggia and Lazzarotti 2014). The government of Italy has already launched its tourism industry strategy plan for 2017-2022. According to that plan, the tourism industry of Italy will not mainly focus on digitalization and enhancement in infrastructure. This sector is also planning to put their focus on sharing economy. However, it is also true that not everything is positive in the tourism industry of Italy. The jubilee year was promoted by Vatican was seen as a religious success of the country, not an economic one. On the other hand, several travel companies stated that they are afraid about terrorist attacks during the tours, which is also expected to hamper the growth of tourism sector of Italy (Cucculelli and Goffi 2016). Some other issues are also there in the tourism sector of Italy that can affect its growth. Along with the nature and significance of the Italy’s tourism sectors, two major issues will also be described in this essay.
Most of the popular tourist destinations in Italy are historic places, which are protected as world heritage sites. In Italy, the most visited destinations are Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome. All of these cities are cities of art and attract tourists for the quality and abundance of their cultural heritage. From the time of Roman Empire, wealth flowed into the country and the population grew continuously. After the fall of Roman Empire, political powers of many regions grew rapidly and new ruling governments were developed with different cities as their social, political and economic centers (Cuccia et al. 2017). That is why; Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome, all these cities experienced dissimilar periods of prosperity that lead to individual identities stemming from traditions, art and culture largely independent of each other.
Italy is known as diverse and intriguing country that is a famous tourist destination for the visitors from all over the world. With more than 50 million tourists per year, Italy is currently placed in the fifth place as the most visited country in the word after France, The United States of America, China and Spain. It is already mentioned that most of the people love to visit Italy because of its rich art, cuisine, history, fashion and culture (Di Giacinto and Micucci 2014). On the other hand, Italy also has more world heritage sites than any other country in the world. As a result, in Italy, tourism is the fastest growing and profitable industrial sector. It is mentioned that the most visited cities in Italy are Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan. However, some other popular cities of Rome are Genoa, which is one of the medieval maritime republics, Naples which is one of the oldest cities of western world and is a UNESCO world heritage site and Turin which was the first capital of Italy (Presenza 2013).
Major Tourist Destinations in Italy
On the other hand, it is also true that people not only visits Italy to broaden their knowledge of art and history, but also to enjoy the country’s wonderful natural beauty. Tourism is a major factor for the economy of the country as it brings money and trade. On the other hand, the tourism industry of Italy is also providing many jobs in different areas such as hotels, restaurants, travel companies, transport, souvenir shops and service stations. The direct impact of tourism sector of Italy can be understood from the figure below.
Figure 1: Direct contribution of tourism industry in Italy
(Source: Borowiecki and Castiglione 2014)
The direct contribution of tourism industry in Italy’s GDP was EUR66.0bn in the year of 2104 that increased by nearly 2% in the year of 2015. This clearly reflects that the economic activity generated by industries such as hotels, restaurants, airlines and other transportation services. It is also expected that in Italy, the direct contribution of tourism sector to GDP of Italy is expected to grow by 2.1% pa by 2025 (Chon and Weber 2014).
Figure 2: Direct contribution to the GDP of Italy
(Source: Tribe, J., 2015)
Besides, according to Mariani et al. (2014), the complete contribution of tourism industry to GDP that includes broader effects from investment, supply chain and induced income impacts was EUR 160bn in the year OF 2014, which was 11% of GDP. It is also expected that it will grow by 1.7% per annum until 2025.
Figure 3: Total contribution of tourism industry to GDP
(Source: Horner and Swarbrooke 2016)
In the terms employment, in the year of 2014, tourism industry generated nearly 1.1 million jobs directly which is 5% of the total employment in Italy. It is expected that it will increase up to 1.8% by the end of 2017. By the end of 2017, tourism sector of Italy will be accountable for providing almost 5% of total employment in the country. This employment includes employment by restaurants, hotels, airline companies, travel agents and several other transportation organizations (Sharpley and Telfer 2014). It is also expected that by the end of 2025, travel and tourism sector of Italy will account for 1.5 million jobs directly.
Figure 4: Direct contribution of tourism to employment of Italy
(Source: Hannam et al. 2014)
The total contribution of tourism to employment that includes broader effects from investment, supply chain and induced incomes impacts was nearly 3 million jobs in the year of 2014. This number is expected to increase by 1.4% by the end of 2017. After that, tourism industry will account for nearly 12% employment in the country (Mowforth and Munt 2015). It is also expected that by the end of 2025, tourism industry of Italy will be responsible for over 3 million jobs, which will be 14% of total employment, an increase of 1.6%.
As mentioned by Tribe (2015), money that visitors spend in a country is a major of the direct investment of tourism industry. In the year of 2014, Italy gained EUR35bn from the spending of the visitors. It is expected that by 2025, this spending rate will grow by 3% and the country will attract nearly 55 million international tourists.
Impact of Tourism Industry on Italy’s Economy
Figure 5: Tourist exports and international tourist arrivals in Italy
(Source: Biagi and Detotto 2014)
From the above analysis, it can be stated that tourism industry in Italy is playing a major role in the country’s economic growth. On the other hand, the industry is also responsible for employing a huge portion of the Italian population. However, it is true that tourism industry of Italy is facing a number of issues nowadays that can hamper the steady growth of the sector in the near future.
Italy is one of the largest tourism destinations in the world (). Every year thousands of people come to visit the great monuments of Italy and to experience its cultural heritage. Hence, it is expected that that with its huge returns from the tourism sector, Italy will be able to make proper maintenance of monuments and its cultural heritage. Unfortunately the reality is different. Horner and Swarbrooke (2016) stated that, Italy is facing economic downturns, which has affected the tourism sector as well. There are many popular monuments in Italy are going in ruins. There is also no sign of repairing these monuments in anytime soon. Presenza (2013) argued that the time may be tough for the country, but it is not enough excuse for the Italian government to ignore the repairing and maintenance of these tourist attraction spots.
If in future, the monuments are preserved and Italian government supports the living arts, then the country will continue to enjoy the benefits of tourism. On the other hand, if the Italian government does not take any initiative to repair and maintain these historic monuments, then it can be ensured that these ruins are not going to last many years (Cuccia et al. 2017). Then the country is bound to face even more tough economic time. The Italian government has to remember that, repairing and maintaining these monuments during economic downturn maybe tough but not an impossible task to achieve (Mariani et al. 2014). They can take example from other countries that are suffering from the same issues such as Greece. The government can look for investors for the repair and maintenance of these monuments. They even open some archaeological sites for commercial purpose such as movies, advertisement firms and many more. The Italian tourism authorities have to make efforts to try to maintain the sites and monuments (Presenza et al. 2013). Recently, the government promised to unblock 105 million Euros from the European Union, which will all go into maintaining the countries cultural heritage as well as the historical sites and monuments.
There is only one industry that has not suffered from the economic crisis and that is organized crime. In Italy, there are three major mafia organizations, which are Ndrangheta, the Camorra and the Sicilian mafia. These mafia organizations are strongly operating in several sectors of Italy that includes travel and tourism. During the period of recession, organized crime groups offered loans to individuals and business organizations with extortionate rates of interest. As a result, a completely new group of people started to behold them. Last year, a government-funded report was published that shows that the figure of shadow economy in Italy is €10.5bn, or 0.7% of GDP (Mariani et al. 2014). On the other hand, a study conducted by Bocconi University stated that that figure is actually 11%. However, it does not matter what is the figure, the problem is clear. On the other hand, Italy also has more number of governments in the country than any other European power since the Second World War. Only one government has lasted for full five years in Italy since 1945. This clearly shows that the country is politically unstable. Political stability is extremely important for sectors such as tourism. If the changes in government are frequent, then the changes in governmental policies will also become frequent. The same thing is happening in Italy. Rules and regulations are changing regularly which is creating several problems for the tourists in the country. If this problem is not solved in the near future, the growth in the tourism industry of Italy will be hampered drastically.
Government Strategy for Boosting the Tourism Industry
Conclusion
In the end, it can be concluded that Italy is one of the most popular tourist destination in the world. Currently its holds the seventh rank in it and it is expected that by the end of 2025 it will claim its position in top three. There are several countries, where tourism is the main source of income. Italy is not such a country; however, its tourism sector plays a major role in the country’s economy. On the other hand, it is also seen that the tourism sector is employing a large amount of Italian people and keeping the unemployment rate under control. Therefore, it can be stated that this industry is playing a major role in increasing the economic growth of the country. However, from the essay, it is also seen that some major issues are expected to hamper the growth this industry in the near future. It is recommended that the government of Italy must address those issues properly which will allow its tourism industry to grow in an appropriate manner. The government must work on the changing policies in the first place. It is seen that the government in Italy tends to change frequently. In order to help the tourism industry of the country, it is important that a set of rules must be there for the tourism industry that all the governments will follow.
References
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