They've been over 1,7 million Italian tourists who visited Piedmont between May and October 2015. Lombardy and Liguria are the regions from which the greatest number of visitors arrived, followed by Emilia Romagna, Lazio and Veneto.
In conjunction with the semester of the Universal Exposition, Switzerland, France and Germany were the main countries of origin of foreign tourists in Piedmont, totaling together around 50% of the flows (stays of more than 24 hours and less than 30 days). The majority of foreigners stayed in Piedmont for less than 3 days, while the Italians stayed up to 4 days. The use of the territory varies considerably according to the origin of the tourists, with a marked tendency to define specific fruition areas transversal to those represented by the ATLs (11 for foreigners, 15 for Italians). Turin is the main destination for regional tourist flows, especially those from abroad: 45% of foreigners who visit Turin spend two-thirds of their time in Italy in the Piedmontese capital.
These are some of the results that emerge from the first study carried out in Italy on tourist flows through "Big Data", an innovative technology that makes it possible to better understand the dynamics of tourism and encourage the development of more effective and sustainable strategies for the area. It is in this perspective that Piedmont Tourism Development and Vodafone Italy, in collaboration with CS Research/University of Salzburg, analyzed the regional tourism sector in the period from May to October 2015, using traffic data from the Vodafone mobile network. Aggregated and anonymised, this information was processed using special algorithms and statistical coefficients, in order to provide a detailed view of the overall behavior of tourists in Piedmont. The study aims to contribute to completing the tools already available to the Region for monitoring tourist flows, exploiting new technologies to favor an ever more accurate vision of the territory's potential. This is also made possible by the capillarity of the Vodafone mobile network, which in Piedmont now reaches 95% of the population with 4G, for a total of around 800 municipalities covered by the service.
Italian tourists
1,7 million Italians visited Piedmont during the semester of Expo. In 73% of cases, the stay recorded is 2-3 days, which lengthens significantly in the month of August and reaches its maximum peak, with a doubling of presences, on August 2015th. Between May and October 30, around XNUMX% of Italian tourists visited Piedmont more than once.
The flows are linked to geographical proximity: the main region of origin is Lombardy with 43% of presences, followed by Liguria (23%) and, on an equal footing, by Emilia Romagna, Lazio and Veneto (5%). Analyzing the municipalities from which Italian visitors come, the scenario is fragmented: the podium goes to Milan (14%), followed by Genoa (13%) and Rome (4%). In terms of attendance in the individual Piedmontese municipalities, the proportions change significantly from city to city. The Milanese are the main visitors to the cities of Turin (11% of the total Italian visitors, followed by the Romans with 9% of the share), Verbania (25%), Novara (20%), Vercelli (14%) and Biella (18%). The Genoese are first in Cuneo (23%), Alessandria (17%) and Asti (12%). The principle of proximity is also reflected in the weekly trend, which sees an almost doubling of attendances on public holidays for regions such as Lombardy and Liguria.
Foreign tourists
The results of the surveys show that foreign tourists in the region had an average stay of less than 3 days (77% of cases). The attendance trend is seasonal, but much less marked than in the Italians, with peaks in the months of July and August. The primacy for the number of visitors belongs to Switzerland, which accounts for 20% of the total number of foreigners, slightly above France (18%). In terms of presence in the cities, Swiss and Germans, with similar shares, represent about 50% of visitors to Verbania. The French prevail in Cuneo (46%) and Turin (18%). The Germans concentrate their presence in Novara (16%) and in Alessandria (14%). First off the podium are visitors from Romania (5%), Holland (5%) and Belgium (4%). Turin is the main destination for foreign tourist flows: 45% of foreigners who visit Turin dedicate about 66% of the time spent in Italy to the Piedmontese capital.
Tourist flows
Foreign tourists reach Piedmont mainly by land from the passes of Switzerland and France. The origins from the North-East are much lower, as are the arrivals from the airports. The analysis took into consideration the relationships between the main cities of the region with respect to the habits of use of the territory by the visitors. The results show that foreigners who come to Turin also visit Novara, Asti and Alessandria. The Italians show a similar behavior, the only difference is that after Turin the first destination city to visit is Asti, followed by Novara and Alessandria. Verbania and Biella, on the other hand, emerge as punctual destinations: tourists who arrive in these cities tend to spend their visiting time in the territory of their respective municipalities, limiting visits to other cities.
The movement of foreigners identifies three macro guidelines: the first connects France with Turin, Vercelli and Novara; the second connects France with Turin, Asti and Alessandria, while the third connects Switzerland with the area of Verbania and Lake Maggiore. The flows of Italian visitors are similar, but extend west to Turin and highlight more the area south of Alessandria and east of Cuneo. The flows of Italians also have a strong regional characterization. For the Lombards, for example, they develop mainly on the Novara-Turin route while for the Romans they develop in a radial pattern around Turin.
The use of the territory
The use of the territory by tourists varies considerably according to their origin, even if the study highlights a marked tendency on the part of visitors to define areas of use of the territory transversal to those represented by the LTAs. From the analyzes of mobile network traffic flows, foreign tourism develops according to 11 territorial partitions (15 if we consider Italian visitors) compared to the 9 ATLs into which the region is currently divided. Each partition has a high degree of coherence, meaning that travelers tend to stay mostly in these homogeneous zones. In general, all those who return to Piedmont tend to visit the same areas covered by previous visits, highlighting a strong territorial loyalty, both for Italians and for foreigners.
Vodafone in Piedmont
Vodafone Italia is constantly engaged in the development of innovative technologies and ultra-broadband for families, businesses and the public administration. In Piedmont, this commitment translates into a three-year investment of 250 million euros for the development of new generation fixed and mobile networks. Thanks to these investments, 95% of the regional population is reached by the 4G network, for a total of around 800 municipalities. The 40G+ network is also active in 4 of these, with speeds of up to 225 Mbps. Vodafone's fiber optic service is instead present in 18 municipalities in Piedmont, with speeds varying according to the type of infrastructure used, from 30 to 100 megabits per second. In Turin, Vodafone is the only operator to offer the fiber optic service with FTTH technology (up to the customers' homes) with speeds of up to 300 megabits per second.
