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Italy

Tourism

Tourism in numbers - Europe

Europe is the most important tourist region in the world. According to UNWTO, in 2006 nearly 55% of all international tourist arrivals (461 million) were on the “old continent”.Southern Europe and the Mediterranean region are the favourite holiday destinations in Europe. According to UNWTO, in 2006 about 165 million tourists visited these regions (11).

At present, the predominant summer tourist flows in Europe are from north to south, to the coastal zone. However, coastal and mountain tourism are the segments that are most vulnerable to climate change, and the Mediterranean region is the world's most popular holiday region: it attracts some 120 million visitors from northern Europe each year, the largest international flow of tourists on the globe, and their spending is in excess of EUR 100 billion (9).

Tourism in numbers - Italy

Italy is in third place in Europe and globally in fifth place in the ranking of favourite holiday countries. Foreigners account for 43% of overnight stays. The tourism industry generates just under 9% of GDP (11).

Vulnerabilities - Italy

Results show that in Italy tourism is one of the economic sectors that will suffer significant economic damages (3).

The fact that international tourism is already concentrated at a higher latitude leads to the assumption that Italy will be less disadvantaged by the effects of climate change. The shifting of tourist flows further to the north within Italy could continue, so that regions already having weak economies must be prepared for more serious setbacks (11).


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Vulnerabilities – In general

There are four broad categories of climate change impacts that will affect tourism destinations, their competitiveness and sustainability (10):

  • Direct climatic impacts
  • Indirect environmental change impacts. Changes in water availability, biodiversity loss, reduced landscape aesthetic, altered agricultural production (e.g., wine tourism), increased natural hazards, coastal erosion and inundation, damage to infrastructure and the increasing incidence of vector-borne diseases will all impact tourism to varying degrees.
  • Impacts of mitigation policies on tourist mobility.Policies that seek to reduce GHG emissions will lead to an increase in transport costs and may foster environmental attitudes that lead tourists to change their travel patterns.
  • Indirect societal change impacts. Climate change is thought to pose a risk to future economic growth and to the political stability of some nations. Climate change is considered a national and international security risk that will steadily intensify, particularly under greater warming scenarios. Tourists, particularly international tourists, are averse to political instability and social unrest.

Vulnerabilities - Mediterranean

An estimated 84% of the international tourists that visit the Mediterranean come from Europe, mostly from northern and western countries. Germany is the largest market followed by the United Kingdom. Spain, France, Italy and Greece receive almost 80% of Mediterranean tourism arrivals (1).


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Adaptation strategies – In general

Climate change is slowly entering into decision-making of a range of tourism stakeholders (e.g., investors, insurance companies, tourism enterprises, governments, and tourists); studies that have examined the climate change risk appraisal of local tourism officials and operators have consistently found relatively low levels of concern and little evidence of long-term strategic planning in anticipation of future changes in climate (10).


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Adaptation strategies summer tourism

Several authors (5) have shown that in the Mediterranean area there are about 160 islands exceeding 10 square kilometres in size. Most have a low water resource base but significant tourist development. As a consequence of climate change, in the coming years a decline in rainfall (especially in the south of Italy) and water supply availability has been forecast, and, together with beach erosion, this could undermine their tourist industries and hence their local economies.


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Adaptation strategies winter tourism

It will be necessary to differentiate the tourism offer and to strengthen the seasonal diversification. For winter tourism, the adaptation strategies include technological solutions and the development of new business models. The main available technological solutions are: developing north facing slopes; extending and improving existing ski areas to higher elevations; slope development; tree planting to protect the slopes and artificial snowmaking. Snowmaking is surely the most common and widespread adaptation strategy in Italy (about 77% of the Italian ski areas are already covered by snowmaking systems) (2). A rise in average temperature will lead to an increasing need to use artificial snow,  therefore increasing both the costs and the likelihood of conflicts with other water users (3).


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References

The references below are cited in full in a separate map 'References'. Please click here if you are looking for the full references for Italy.

  1. Amelung and Viner (2006)
  2. Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea of Italy (2007)
  3. Carraro and Sgobbi (2008)
  4. Bigano and Bosello (2007), in: Carraro and Sgobbi (2008)
  5. Nicholls, Hoozemans and Marchand (1999), in: WHO (2007)
  6. Van Hofwagen and Jaspers (1999), in: WHO (2007)
  7. TCI (2002), in: Carraro and Sgobbi (2008)
  8. Amelung and Viner (2006)
  9. EEA, JRC and WHO (2008)
  10. UNWTO, UNEP and WHO (2008)
  11. Deutsche Bank Research (2008)
  12. Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea of Italy (2009)
  13. Bigano and Bosello (2007), in: Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea of Italy (2009)
  14. Steger et al. (2013)
  15. Salim et al. (2021b), in: Salim et al. (2021)
  16. Salim et al. (2021)

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