Italy to exploit tourism potentials
Vatican City
Italy’s capital, Rome, is well known for its rich cultural and historical sites, including the Colosseum and the Pantheon. It boasts top restaurants specializing in the world’s most popular cuisines. It has a vibrant nightlife, and picturesque piazzas. However, Rome has got just 16th rank in the world’s most visited city as per the Mastercard Global Destinations Cities Index. According to the report, Rome attracts 7.1 million tourists every year, less than other 15 countries.
Bangkok is the top-ranked destination with 21.5 million tourists, which is three times more than the tourists who travel to Rome every year. Dubai, in fourth, attracts twice as many tourists as Rome. Kuala Lumpur, Amsterdam and Seoul are also ahead of the Italian Capital.
Colosseum- Rome
Marco Brogna, President of the economics of tourism programme at Rome’s La Sapienza University says “All the cities ranked higher than Rome can have their own ways to lure people to visit them, but Rome does a very bad job at selling itself, same as other Italian Cities”
“When many people think of coming to Rome, the first thing comes in to their mind would be the city is inhospitable, dangerous, and dirty. They may not think of the Renaissance artwork or the architectural wonders of the city.”
Pantheon – Rome
One of the main problems is the bad public relation prevailing across Italy, which make Italy just the fifth most visited country in the world. According to statistics from the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), France, the United States, Spain, and China, all attract more tourists than Italy.
“Thirty years ago, Italy was the top destination in the world for travellers,” Brogna said. “Now it has to worry about falling even further down the list.”
Brogna said the problems began when Italy was slower than other countries in looking to attract tourists in the 1980s and 1990s. In 2001, a plan to decentralize governmental decision making by handing it to regional governments made the problem worse. He said most regions proved to be poor promoters. Even on good days, the coordination amongst various sectors was very poor.
Pizza Navona – Rome
Andrea Giuricin, a management professor and a transport and tourism analyst with an industry group Confturismo, said the problem was augmented along the north-south divide that splits the country economically and culturally.
Tourism being one of the largest contributors to the country’s economy should have been given more importance for the development of the country. There should be an organized air traffic system with efficient connections across the country and from across Europe.
Pisa Tower
With better and more coordinated promotion and improvements in infrastructure, Italy’s tourism sector can grow in an improved pace.
“Italy should be able to host twice as many visitors as it does without strain, but until the country improves its image, it’s never going to happen,” added Brogna.
