Italy world heritage of art and … of food. Two strategic sectors of our economy, tourism and agri-food, have for some time now experienced unexpected fortunes with strong repercussions not only on the GDP but also on the country's employment levels and seem increasingly interdependent like two sides of the same coin.
The latest survey on the habits, tastes and consumption of tourists who are rediscovering the Belpaese attests that 2 out of 3 foreign tourists (about 62%) prefer food in their daily expenses. It will be the Expo effect, it will be the effect of the great comeback of the Mediterranean Diet, it will be the result of a national and territorial policy that has finally discovered the importance of the food and wine genius loci, starting to give it due attention, it will be for the intelligence of our entrepreneurs who have understood that the bet on quality is successful, the fact is that Italy can now boast an envied primacy in quality agri-food at an international level, being able to count on 281 products with denomination of origin (PDO/PGI) recognized by the European Union, 4.813 traditional products surveyed by the regions, 405 Doc/Docg wines and over 6.600 farms where you can buy directly from the farmers of Campagna Amica, twenty-one thousand agritourisms that allow for widespread knowledge of the territory and its agro-food characteristics, not to mention the hundreds of cities oil, wine, bread and feasts and festivals of all kinds which exert an undisputed appeal on the choices of both Italian and foreign travellers.
And the results made themselves felt, as evidenced by a Nielsen-Confturismo survey on the holidays of foreigners in Italy. Among the purchases made in Italy, food beats by far the classic souvenirs (50%) but also clothing with 48% and local crafts which stop at 25%. From 87% of Russians to 76% of Japanese, from 62% of Americans and Chinese to 64% of Germans and 60% of French as well as 48% of English do not in fact give up buying Italian food which – according to an estimate of Coldiretti – absorbs about 1/3 of the holiday budget of foreigners in Italy. And calculating what data from the Bank of Italy reveal according to which in 2015 the expenditure of foreign travelers in Italy amounted to 35.765 million euros, with an increase of 4,5% compared to the previous year (1.525 million euros in more) you can be more than satisfied.
The data from the Nielsen-Confturismo survey therefore confirm what had emerged from a previous survey on the reasons for the choice of Italian tourism by foreigners: in fact, two out of three foreigners consider culture and food the main reasons for traveling to Italy. Presenting the results of the first map on the ways of taste developed by Coldiretti for Expo 2015, the president Roberto Moncalvo had already highlighted that the food and wine offer, widespread throughout the boot, "is the result of the work of entire generations of farmers committed to defending biodiversity in the area and food traditions over time”, adding “it is a common good for the entire community and a cultural heritage that Italy can now proudly offer to its visitors”.
Going into the specifics of the Map of the ways of taste, it emerges that among the 4.813 regional specialties obtained according to traditional rules protracted over time for at least 25 years, there are 1.468 different types of bread, pasta and biscuits, followed by 1.334 fresh and processed vegetables, 781 salami , hams, fresh meats and sausages of various kinds, 487 cheeses, 192 compound dishes or gastronomy products, 158 drinks including soft drinks, liqueurs and distillates, 158 products of animal origin (honey, dairy products excluding butter, etc.) and 146 preparations of fish, molluscs, crustaceans. Alongside this consolidated heritage of food and wine specificities, the Italian tourist offer can also count on as many as 871 parks and protected natural areas that cover 10 percent of the national territory where it is possible to carry out activities particularly appreciated abroad such as biking, trekking , hiking, animal watching and other sports. Activities often also offered by agritourisms which in Italy - explains Coldiretti - have considerably qualified their traditional offer of accommodation and catering with innovative services for sportsmen, nostalgics, the curious and environmentalists, such as horse riding, archery, trekking or cultural activities such as visiting archaeological or naturalistic itineraries, and wellness, but also cooking classes which today constitute an added value for the tourist offer.
