2020 – Italy Travel Statistics & Data

Last updated: March 14, 2022, by Grant Thomas

🔖Cite this webpage (Thomas, Grant. “2020 – Italy Travel Statistics & Data”. visasassociation.com, March 14, 2022, https://visasassociation.com/statistics/2020-italy-travel-statistics) 

Note: The latest statistics and travel data available about Italy is for 2020. We will update this page as soon as Italy’s 2021 travel data and statistics are available.     

Highlights: 2020 Italy Tourism Statistics & Trends 

• In 2020, the number of Schengen Visa applications for Italy dropped by 85.6%.   

• In 2020, Italy’s Schengen Visa approval rate was 88.5%. 

• In 2021, Italy recorded 59.7% fewer tourist arrivals compared to 2019. 

• The value added of tourism dropped by 31.5% in 2020. 

• In the first nine months of 2021, Italy recorded 38.4% fewer tourists in accommodation establishments than in 2019. 

• In the first nine months of 2021, Italy recorded 56.1% fewer international visitors in accommodation establishments compared with the same period of 2019. 

• In the first quarter of 2021, Italy recorded 81.7% fewer tourist arrivals compared with the same period of 2019. 

• In 2021, 51% of tourists in accommodation establishments were couples who chose to visit Italy for leisure.

• In 2020, Italy was the fourth most visited tourist destination in the Schengen Area. 

• In 2020, Rome was the most visited city in Italy, with 6,500,000 overnight stays.

Covid’s Impact on the Italian Tourism Sector & Visa Applications for Italy

The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak caused unprecedented disruption to the tourism industry in Italy. At the end of the first quarter of 2020, tourist arrivals dropped to near-zero levels. 

During the summer of 2020, most travel restrictions have been lifted, allowing Italy to benefit from the slight recovery of tourism activity. However, tourist flows remained well below pre-pandemic levels. 

In November 2020, the second wave of the pandemic had an overwhelmingly negative impact on tourism in Italy due to new restrictions to internal and international mobility. According to the Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT), the number of foreign visitors dropped by 60% in 2020.

Vittorio Messina, National President of Assoturismo, declared in 2020: “In recent history, Italian tourism has never experienced a crisis like this. It is the darkest moment. Not even 9/11 affected it so heavily”. 

• In 2020, Italy received 293,000 Schengen Visa applications, 85.6% or 1,760,000 fewer than in 2019. 

• Italy issued 259,000 Schengen Visas in 2020, 86.3% or 1,634,000 fewer than in 2019. 

• In 2020, Italy’s Visa rejection rate increased to 11.5%, while in 2019, it was 7.7%.

• In March 2020, 90% of all bookings in Rome and 80% in Sicily were cancelled.

• Domestic tourism trips in Italy dropped by 44.8% in 2020. 

• Domestic trips for business purposes dropped by 67.9% in 2020. 

• Between July and September 2020, Italy received 95.2% fewer US travellers than in July-September 2019.  

• The total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in Italy in 2020 dropped by 51% over the previous year. 

• In April 2020, the number of foreign guests dropped by 99.9% compared to April 2019. 

• In 2020, Italy recorded 16.357 million euros of overnight visitor expenditure, 61.2% or 25.807 million euros less than in 2019.

• In 2020, the expenditure of same-day visitors in Italy amounted to 975 million euros, 54.4% or 1.163 million euros less than in 2019.

• In 2020, Italy recorded 17.332 million euros international tourist expenditure, 60.9% or 26.970 million euros less than in 2019.

• Italy received 25.4 million overnight visitors in 2020, 61.0% or 39.6 million fewer overnight visitors than in 2019. 

• Italy received 13.6 million same-day visitors in 2020, 56.4% or 17.5 million fewer than in 2019. 

• 38.9 million international tourists visited Italy in 2020,  59.5% or 57.3 million fewer than in 2019. 

• Italy recorded 183.3 million overnight stays in 2020, 54.4% or 218.8 million less than in 2019. 

• In 2020, overnight visitors’ average spending per night was 89.2 euros, 14.9% or 15.7 euros less than in 2019. 

• The average spend of same-day visitors was 71.9 euros in 2020, 4.7% or 3.2 more than in 2019.   

• Italy lost 200 million euros after travel bookings were cancelled in March 2020.

• In 2020, Italy’s number of tourist arrivals equalled less than one-third of the number of tourist arrivals in 2019. 

• If the COVID-19 pandemic had not occurred, Italy might have received 81 million visitors in spring 2020 (18.5% of the annual total). 

• If the COVID-19 pandemic had not occurred, Italy would have recorded 9.4 billion euros of international tourism expenditure in spring 2020. 

• In October 2021, Italy received 55.6% fewer international visitors compared with October 2019. 

• In the first nine months of 2021, Italy recorded 46.5% fewer tourist arrivals compared with the same period of 2019. 

Note: The percent variance has been calculated for the first nine months on 2021

• In the first nine months of 2021, Italy recorded 38.4% fewer visitors in accommodation establishments than in 2019. 

Note: The percent variance has been calculated for the first nine months on 2021

• In 2020, the number of overnight stays in “traditional” accommodations (e.g., hotel, B&B, etc.) dropped by 14%.

• Tourism in Venice was the most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with 71.5% fewer tourist arrivals.

• Other cities affected by the pandemic were Florence and Rome, where the ratio of cancellations vs. bookings reached 784% and 604%, respectively.

• In 2020, Italy recorded 23.718 million euros inbound tourism spending, 59.6% or 34.981 million euros less than in 2019. 

Italy: 2020 Schengen Visa Applications and Tourism – Trends

○ Italy’s Schengen Visa approval rate from 2015 to 2020

○ Countries that submitted the highest number of Schengen Visa applications for Italy from 2015 to 2020

○ International tourist arrivals in Italy from 2015 to 2020 

○ International tourist overnight stays in Italy by travel reasons from 2015 to 2020 

○ Contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in Italy from 2015 to 2020

○ Spending of international tourists in Italy from 2015 to 2020

○ Italy: Reasons for business travel in 2020

○ In 2020, Italy was the fourth preferred destination country in Europe

○ Top 5 countries that submitted the highest number of Schengen Visa applications for Italy in 2020

○ Approval rates for the countries that submitted the highest number of Schengen Visa applications for Italy in 2020

○ Top 5 third countries that had the highest rejection rates for the Schengen Visa for Italy in 2020

Sources:  

European Travel Commission – EUROPEAN TOURISM: TRENDS & PROSPECTS Quarterly report (Q2/2021) 

EUROSTAT – Tourism Statistics 

European Commission – Statistics on short-stay visas issued by the Schengen States 

Wikipedia – Tourism in Italy

STATISTA – Tourism in Italian Cities – Statistics & Facts

ISTAT  – National Institute of Statistics

Banca d’Italia – Survey on International Tourism

Italia Destinazione Digitale – All Italian Data 2021 Report

Worlddata.info – Tourism in Italy

MDPI – Tourism and Road Transport Emissions in Italy 

OECD – Inbound Tourism     

European Committee of the Regions – Coronavirus: Impact on the Economy 

Atout France – Note de conjoncture de l’économie touristique