Sustainability: the trend for Italian tourism in 2023

An increasing number of Italian travellers are choosing to spend their holidays according to the principles of sustainability.

The latest data from Observatory SWG revealed that four out of five Italians would be willing to experience sustainable tourism – preferring to stay in a certified environmentally friendly structure at the same cost.

In relation to environmental protection initiatives, almost 70 per cent of sample respondents were in favour of limited access and traffic restrictions and 73 per cent would use public transport or ecological vehicles instead of cars.

Another study on the impact of sustainability on the Italian tourism supply chain conducted by Deloitte in partnership with AICEO supports this trend. In this study, 64 per cent of respondents said the effects of climate change have led them to consider travelling in a more sustainable way – the percentage reached 71 per cent among under 25s. The will to shift towards sustainable tourism is especially driven by the desire to protect the territory (60 per cent) and reduce environmental impact through ecological means of transport (52 per cent).

The growing attention towards sustainability is also reflected in the strong recovery of train travel, which recorded over one million passengers a day in 2022. As it emerged at the travel trade fair BIT 2023, foreign tourists’ purchases of Italian train company Trenitalia’s products have increased by 25 per cent in 2022 compared to the pre-Covid period.

Maurizio Rota, CEO of True Italian Experience, a digital hub whose goal is to promote, diffuse and develop the Italian tourism market, said: “We value the tourism businesses, cooperatives and start-ups present throughout remote areas of our country and which thus focus on the development of a sustainable and gentle type of tourism.”