Only in recent months have we begun to think of our monuments as a potential business in which to invest and in which to be able to obtain a few more cents to raise cash. But Censis, in collaboration with the Marilena Ferrari Foundation, has been thinking about it since January, making a calculation of how much our artistic, cultural and landscape heritage could weigh quantitatively.
For "beautiful" however, according to Censis, it is necessary to distinguish from the beauty of the goldsmith's art, from that of the artistic heritage and from our "textile" heritage (Armani, Prada, Valentino, etc.). Censis has "weighed" the production of wealth of beauty (productive sectors) at 5,4% of GDP, i.e. 74,2 billion euros. While the landscape is valued at 5% (2,3 billion) of the gross domestic product. The world of fashion contributes only 3 billion euros to GDP (plus the 2 billion of footwear); the furniture sector contributes 1% and the mechanical industry (cars & co) have a value of 11 billion euro. While, the most interesting beauty, that of cultural and artistic heritage, has a value of 17 billion euros.
Lately, however, the State has neglected the artistic and cultural beauty of our country, losing 8 billion; instead with a new plan for the renewal of our artistic assets, these could quickly recover those 8 billion lost.
From a cultural and artistic point of view (in many and varied sectors) we are in fact among the first: together with Israel, we have 30% of tourists who have the cities of art as their main tourist destinations, and we are the first exporters in the world of design among the G8 countries, even if unfortunately we are not investing enough due to state investments in the “beauty” sectors, thus losing ground.
Indeed, according to the data reported by the Censis research, we are "traditionally strong" in the textile sectors and the furniture industry, but we are retreating due to the high competitiveness of China and India in terms of labor prices. Indeed, India and China, together with France, Germany and the United States, are growing in the export of fashion and furniture design.
The saddest figure is the 36% reduction in the budget of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage: for this very reason Censis "invites" entrepreneurs, the State and Italians to believe more in our artistic, industrial, landscape and fashion heritage, since "the Beauty it's in our DNA."
Attachments: The_economic_value_of_beauty_in_Italy_Censis research summary_0712.pdf
