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With more than 43.7 million tourists a year, Italy is the fourth highest tourist earner[1], and fifth most visited country in the world, behind France (76.0 million), Spain (55.6 million), United States (49.4 million), and China (46.8). People mainly come to Italy for its rich art, cuisine, history, fashion and culture, its beautiful coastline and beaches, its mountains, and priceless ancient monuments, especially those from the Greek civilization and Roman civilization. Tourism is one of Italy's fastest growing and most profitable industrial sectors, with an estimated revenue of $42.7 billion.
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Hotel Categories in Italy
In Italy there is a broad variety of hotels, going from 1-5 stars. In 2005, there were 33,557 hotels with 1,020,000 rooms and 2,028,000 beds[3]. The number of hotels, according to their rating, in 2005, went like this:
5-star hotels: 232 with 20,686 rooms and 43,150 beds.
4-star hotels: nearly 3,700 with 247,000 rooms and 502,000 beds.
3-star hotels: 14,500 with 483,000 rooms and 940,000 beds.
2-star hotels: 5,000 with 116,000 beds.
1-star hotels: 2,000 with 157,000 beds.
Ancient resorts
Italy has some of the world's most ancient tourist resorts, dating back to the time of the Roman Republic, when destinations such as Pompeii, Naples, Ischia, Capri and especially Baiae were popular with the rich of Roman society. Pompeii is currently Italy's third the world's 48th most visited tourist destination, with over 2.5 million tourists a year[4]
Tourism in Rome
Rome is one of the most visited cities in the world, with an average of 7-10 million tourists a year[6]. The Colosseum (4 million tourists) and the Vatican Museums (4.2 million tourists) are the 39th and 37th (respectively) most visited places in the world, according to a recent study[7]. Other main sights in the city include the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, Piazza Navona, St Peter's Basilica, the Roman Forum[8], Castel Sant'Angelo, the Basilica of St. John Lateran[9], the Spanish Steps, Villa Borghese park, Piazza del Popolo, the Trastevere and the Janiculum.[10].
Other Popular destinations
Apart from Rome, Venice and Florence are the top destinations for tourism in Italy. Other major tourist locations include Turin, Milan, Naples, Padua, Bologna, Perugia, Genoa, Sicily, Sardinia, Salento and Cinque Terre. Two factors in each of these locations are history and geography. The Roman Empire, middle ages, and renaissance have left many cultural artifacts for the Italian tourist industry to use. Many northern cities are also able to use the Alps as an attraction for winter sports, while coastal southern cities have the Mediterranean Sea to draw tourists looking for sun.
Italy is home to forty four UNESCO World Heritage Sites[13], more than any other country, including many entire cities such as Verona, Siena, Vicenza, Ferrara, San Gimignano, and Urbino. Ravenna hosts an unprecedented eight different internationally recognized sites.
References
- ^ http://unwto.org/facts/eng/pdf/highlights/UNWTO_Highlights08_en_HR.pdf
- ^ http://www.itvnews.tv/Blog/Blog/the-50-most-visited-places.html
- ^ http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turismo_in_Italia
- ^ http://www.itvnews.tv/Blog/Blog/the-50-most-visited-places.html
- ^ yearhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii
- ^ http://www.romanhomes.com/your_roman_vacation/pickpockets.htm
- ^ http://www.itvnews.tv/Blog/Blog/the-50-most-visited-places.html
- ^ http://www.rome.info/sights/
- ^ http://www.webromehotels.com/tourist-attractions-rome.html
- ^ http://www.rome.world-guides.com/attractions.html
- ^ http://www.itvnews.tv/Blog/Blog/the-50-most-visited-places.html
- ^ http://www.itvnews.tv/Blog/Blog/the-50-most-visited-places.html
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_World_Heritage_Sites_in_Europe#Italy
- ^ http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/europe/italy/milan/25103/duomo/attraction-detail.html
External links
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