Trips and holidays in Italy and abroad

Istat presents provisional estimates of the main aggregates of tourism demand in Italy in 2010, based on the multipurpose survey ‘Trips and holidays’ which has been conducted on a quarterly basis since 1997.

The survey collects information on trips of at least one overnight stay made by the resident population living in households. The aim of the survey is to detect the number of trips and their main characteristics (destination, type of accommodation, means of transport, duration) as well as the socio-demographic characteristics of tourists. The survey, thus, provides a complete picture of the national tourism demand, quantifying the number of trips (and nights) both to Italy and abroad made for business and personal purposes.

In 2010, trips with overnight stays made by residents were 99,997 millions, corresponding to 626,947 millions nights. Compared to 2009, there was a 12.4% decrease in the number of trips and a 7.8% decrease in the number of nights spent travelling.