Beautiful, a little more sustainable, welcoming, but behind Spain, France, Germany, Japan, the United States, England and Australia. According to the World Economic Forum, Italy is in eighth place in the ranking of tourism competitiveness. In the Biennial report comparing 140 countries to evaluate the set of factors and policies that allow the sustainable development of the Travel & Tourism (T&T) sector. As already in 20017, the Bel Paese remains eighth. In a nutshell, in terms of competitiveness and appeal, we still have to work hard to play a world game with lots of money in circulation. What better occasion for the newly launched government?
A (rather slim) consolation from the ranking may be that behind Italy there are Canada and Switzerland, which are promoting themselves rather well in terms of eco-sustainable hospitality. But the central point is that the average level of Italian accommodation facilities must grow. A political and administrative effort to put together non-polluting mobility, separate waste collection, recycling of materials, cycle paths, clean beaches, well-maintained museums and archaeological sites. Not surprisingly, the study by the World Economic Forum has focused the spotlight on the sustainability of tourism, "increasingly in the balance - explains the note - under the weight of the growing masses of tourists". Arrivals in Italy went beyond all expectations in 2018. But coincidentally in this summer of 2019 we began to debate in the newspapers and the media whether tourism is good or not for cities of art.
How much is everything that has been examined by economists worth? 10% of GDP, with a positive trend in employment growth. Attention, in terms of human resources employed and the labor market in sustainable tourism, the USA excels, ahead of Switzerland and Germany. Other Italian indicators were: natural and cultural resources, the relatively (unfavorable) climate and the scarce competitiveness of prices. On this last point, Italy even slips to 129th place out of 140. A macroeconomic contradiction because Hong Kong leads the ranking for the context favorable to tourism businesses, ahead of Singapore and Switzerland. Austria then takes first place for hygiene ahead of Germany and Lithuania. In conclusion, a pale scenario for Italy which is also appreciated in the international tourism exchanges but which has not managed in the last two years to make the leap in quality necessary to go back, at least, ahead of other EU countries. As we can see, the rhetoric of the "most beautiful country in the world" is not helping us.
