You have to wonder why Spain would beat out Italy. France is #1 and the U.S. #3. I was hoping Italy would be #1. Well, I guess there are more than enough tourists going to Italy but again why is Spain #2? Wouldn't you think Italy would be #2 at least? I mean I want to go to Spain too but I would go to Italy first and then Spain.
Mexico beats out Austria. Now there's something to laugh at. I mean that as a good thing. There are some very nice places to visit in Mexico that look a lot like Europe such as San Miguel de Allende, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, Queretaro and more.

The World's Top Tourism Destinations
(international tourist arrivals)
2006
rank Country Arrivals (millions) Percent
change
2005/2004 Percent
change
2006/2005
2005 2006
1. France 75.9 79.1 1.0% 4.2% Wow! Guardo quello. 75.9
2. Spain 55.9 58.5 6.6 4.5
3. United States 49.2 51.1 6.8 3.8
4. China 46.8 49.6 12.1 6.0
5. Italy 36.5 41.1 -1.5 12.4
6. United Kingdom 28.0 30.7 9.2 9.3
7. Germany 21.5 23.6 6.8 9.6
8. Mexico 21.9 21.4 6.3 -2.6
9. Austria 20.0 20.3 3.0 1.5
10. Russian Federation 19.9 20.2 0.2 1.3

Source: World Tourism Organization (WTO). Web: www.world-tourism.org .

I'll tell you why Villa. That's because the tourism authorities here are complacent to the hilt. They just assume that because they have a great destination they don't have to work hard at getting tourists to come. I'm a travel journalist so I get invited on press trips very often by tourism authorities. You know why France is tops? Because they spend megabucks in promoting France. I get invitations nearly every month to go visit them. And they are super organised. I tried to do something here with one of the regional tourist boards (won't name names), but it took months before they could organise anything. I requested for simple information which should be readily available at tourist information desks, but it was days before they replied to my email.

It's a shame really because I totally agree with you. Italy should be at least #2 if not numero uno. We've got everything here that a tourist would want - history, culture, art, food, wine, sea, mountain...you name it.

I'll tell you why Villa. That's because the tourism authorities here are complacently to the hilt. They just assume that because they have a great destination they don't have to work hard at getting tourists to come. I'm a travel journalist so I get invited on press trips very often by tourism authorities. You know why France is tops? Because they spend megabucks in promoting France. I get invitations nearly every month to go visit them. And they are super organised. I tried to do something here with one of the regional tourist board (won't name names), but it took months before they could organise anything. I requested for simple information which should be readily available at tourist information desks, but it was days before they replied to my email.

It's a shame really because I totally agree with you. Italy should be at least #2 if not numero uno. We've got everything here that a tourist would want - history, culture, art, food, wine, sea, mountain...you name it.

Between 1950 and 2000, Italy was consistently ranked in the top 5 world's top tourism destinations; in 1970 Italy was in the number one slot. France and Spain always seem to be ahead.

I think what you have highlighted forms the basis of an important discussion and I hope more members will participate. I think the problem is multifactorial. At one end of the spectrum we have the inherent weaknesses in the public sector, lack of adequate funding, complacency and politics to thank: In fact, I once met a provincial Assessore per il turismo in a well known region and this person had no idea about marketing and tourism. He was rude, condescending and patronising and all he seemed interested in was holding on to his position of power.

Then we have the studi di settore which basically tell you how you should run your business and what profits you should be making so that the state can collect its taxes. This affects how businesses are goverened and run.

At the other end of the spectrum we have complaceny among many operators (some genuinly don't know how to market themselves and are struggling) who take Italy for granted and believe that, as you have pointed out, tourists will continue to arrive no matter what and pay the asking rate; even Italians now seem to prefer to take their holidays overseas as it costs less (what's a banner promoting India doing on this site???).

It is a shame as Italy has a lot to offer.

I guess is because Italy servise are not competitive,
prices are high to compare with France and Spain...
Also big part of turist are americans and now the Euro is a bit more expencive so many turist move to spain and france because are not expencives like Italy..

Plus Italians speak only Italian, France and Spain have theyr lenguage a bit more important and known than ours!

G

Good replies by all.

"Plus Italians speak only Italian, France and Spain have theyr lenguage a bit more important and known than ours!" Being a language teacher and student this comment really gets my attention. Per fortuna parlo italiano, spangnlo e francese.

I think we need to give the Italian government a little credit for sending me to school this past summer in Perugia. They payed for the classes and my room and board. My teacher friends from Brazil and other countries got the same deal. The whole idea is that we come back to the U.S./other countries, teach Italian, spread the Italian culture and promote the desire of our students to got to Italy. And it works! Just about all my students are biting at the bit to go to Italy. Non vedono l'ora per andare a Italia!

You have to wonder why Spain would beat out Italy. France is #1 and the U.S. #3. I was hoping Italy would be #1. Well, I guess there are more than enough tourists going to Italy but again why is Spain #2?

The reason that Spain comes so high up is that when the fascist era came to an end and the peseta was devalued, the country became very cheap for Europeans to visit. The climate, food and seaside resorts became attractive to travel investors and a boom quickly took place. Spain has continued to promote itself as a holiday destination and now receives over 50 million foreign tourists a year:
Following is a breakdown of their nationalities (these figures date from 2002):
UK - 14 million (a 6.2% increase over 2000)(2002=14.5m)
Germany - 10.5 million (a 5.4% decrease over 2000)
France - 6.7 million (a 17% increase over 2000)
Italy - 2.2 million
Holland - 2.2 million
Belgium - 1.6 million
Portugal - 1.4 millionNow whereas Italy has a richer cultural history than Spain, it doesn't promote itself as much, and it is a lot more expensive. In the UK Italy is considered as a luxury holiday destination.

I was surprised at the number of Brits going to Spain - I knew it was high, but 20 million was a shock. I hope Italy doesn't go the same route, as some of the UK visitors that go to Spain I would not want to encounter over here!

With the Schengen agreements, I wonder how accurate the figures are - almost all Brits, on a motoring holiday at least, would start off in France, even if they only drove through it - would they then be picked up as they went to other countries? Also I would have thought that France's figures would include a large number of Brits on "booze cruises", and the cheap one day crossings for shopping/meals, offered by the newspapers. Do these one day excursions really constitute tourism?

I suppose you can classify the one day excursions as a form of niche tourism - or shopping tourism...

I was surprised at the number of Brits going to Spain - I knew it was high, but 20 million was a shock. I hope Italy doesn't go the same route, as some of the UK visitors that go to Spain I would not want to encounter over here!

With the Schengen agreements, I wonder how accurate the figures are - almost all Brits, on a motoring holiday at least, would start off in France, even if they only drove through it - would they then be picked up as they went to other countries? Also I would have thought that France's figures would include a large number of Brits on "booze cruises", and the cheap one day crossings for shopping/meals, offered by the newspapers. Do these one day excursions really constitute tourism?
The World Tourism Organization (WTO) defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited".

I have no idea how they count the tourists crossing the borders within Schengen countries, although it's quite simple to monitor people leaving the UK. I would imagine that hotels, bed and breakfasts, camp sites etc provide details of anyone staying for at least one night (they do in Italy).

One big difference I have noticed living in Sardinia is how almost all tourist hotels close in October and don't open again until Easter, or later. To me it is as though they don't want to make any money, and they are not interested in promoting tourism. The UK isn't in the top 5 countries, yet tourism is its biggest industry. Imagine how much more stable the Italian economy would be if the government bothered to invest in promoting the country overseas a little more!

Not trying to change the subject here or cause controversy(or maybe I am:D) but somebody on this thread said something that caught my attention. Something about Italy having a higher cultural heritage or more historical sites than Spain or something of that nature. Well, just happened to have read recently that Spain and Italy are the two countries with the most world heritage sites in the entire world.

At any rate was at a party not that long ago and met a lady who had lived in France for 10 years. She is an art major. Said she traveled all over Europe studying art. She went on and on about Florence, Italy and how great it was for it's art treasures etc. etc.(Which I completly agree with)(Was there just this last July)(2nd time) Well after going on and on about Florence I asked her what was the city with the most beautiful art in all of Europe. Of course thought she would say Florence. After all she had gone on and on about Florence. Well, she said the city with the most art or most beautiful art was Barcelona, Spain. I said something like wait a minute you mean to tell me that you think Barcelona, Spain is greater than Florence, Italy for art? She said, yeah. This coming from an art major. She is not Spanish by the way. Not saying I agree with her but Barcelona must have some great art.

Am a Spanish major so have studied Spanish history quite a bit. I consider in many ways Spain an extension of Italy. After all Spain was a Roman colony of the Roman Empire for 640 years. Spain was the most important colony of Rome. Roman empeors came from Spain. Popes came from Spain. Even Russel Crow's caracter from the Gladiator was from Spain. When Roman soldiers retired from the army many of them went to Spain to live out their retirement. Spain was partly a colony of the Greeks too just like Italy was. There is that Greco Roman connects there too.

One of the most famous Roman acquaducts in the world is in Segovia, Spain. Spain is full of Roman ruins such as bridges, buildings and roads. Could go on and on about this.

By the way. My wife is Cuban of Spanish origen. She looks Italian. People think she is Italian. That's what attracted me to her. Her sister looks like Sohia Loren with a better nose.