In May, the tourist balance of payments recorded a surplus of 34 million, compared to a positive balance of 78 million in the same month of the previous year and a surplus of 2,072 million in May 2019. of Italy in the sample survey on international tourism which has now turned 26 years old. The Via Nazionale survey is based on interviews and counts of resident and non-resident travelers in transit at the Italian borders (road and rail crossings, international ports and airports).
Passenger expenses increased by 62.4% in one year
Compared to May 2020, the expenses of foreign travelers in Italy increased by 62.4% (775 million from 477 million); those of Italian travelers abroad increased by 85.9% (from 398 to 741 million); both flows remain at levels well below those recorded in 2019.
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The impact of the pandemic on the sector
The effects of the pandemic, notes the Bank of Italy, have made the importance of this sector particularly evident: in 2020 the expenditure of foreign travelers in Italy fell by about three-fifths compared to 2019. abroad was substantially the same. The result was a sharp reduction in the tourist balance of payments surplus (to 0.5 per cent of GDP from 1.0 in 2019), which interrupted the growth underway since the beginning of the last decade. In a context of global collapse in tourist flows, Italy’s market share in world revenues from international tourism has grown from 3.4 to 3.7 percent. The drastic contraction in incoming tourist flows has had consequences on the national GDP, only partially offset by the reduction in outgoing flows; the resilience of businesses in the tourism sector and its related industries has been tested as never before in the recent past.