International tourism spending in Italy 1999-2020

After increasing steadily from 2010 to 2019, international tourism spending in Italy declined sharply in 2020, due to the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In 2020, the inbound tourism expenditure in Italy amounted to roughly 17.3 billion euros, decreasing from approximately 45.6 billion euros in 2019.

International and domestic tourism spending

In 2020, the contribution of travel and tourism to the Italian GDP mostly depended on domestic expenditure, which accounted for nearly 81 percent of total tourism spending. Overall, as the international expenditure declined remarkably in 2020 due to the pandemic, so did the domestic tourism spending in Italy, adding up to nearly 72 billion euros that year.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

In 2020, travel and tourism have been one of the industries most hit by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, as countries had to implement stay-at-home measures to face the health crisis. In Italy, the pandemic had a dramatic impact on both inbound and domestic tourism spending. According to a December 2020 study, inbound tourist spending in Italy was predicted to return to the 2019 level by 2023. Meanwhile, the domestic tourist expenditure in Italy was expected to recover by 2022.