The United States, Australia and China are among the major source markets for long-haul international tourism in Italy, according to the data of the Bank of Italy and the latest survey of the Centre National Tourist Unioncamere-ISNART.

 

China is the source market with a great appeal for Italian destinations. There were 299,000 Chinese travelers in Italy recorded by the Bank of Italy in 2013, for a total of nearly 1.9 million overnight stays (2.6% of total foreign), a trend characterized by a buoyant change in recent years (+100.7% travelers, overnight stays +230.4% between 2010 and 2013).

 

Big spenders, Chinese tourists spent EUR 479 million in Italy in 2013, which is significantly more than three years ago, when Chinese tourists spent 'just' EUR 199 million in Italy (+140.7% variation in three years).

 

Regarding organized tourism, the share of sales to Italy rose from 16.3% in 2013 to 23.1% of packages sold by the Chinese tour operators during 2014. The bestseller tourism products for Chinese buyers are the Italian cities of art, wine and food tourism and business tourism. For 2015, the forecasts of the Chinese players are growth-oriented: 7.8% increase in demand is expected for travel and package holidays in Italy.