The Italian National Tourist Board (INTB) plans to promote ‘roots’ tourism in 2024, focusing on around 1.2 million Aussies of Italian descent and encouraging travel to smaller regional areas to discover ancestral ties to villages and municipalities.
INTB’s global marketing focus is part of Italy’s €20 billion Roots Tourism project, which will tap into Italians’ sense of belonging and encourage the estimated 80 million Italian descendants worldwide to consider a trip to the ‘homeland’.
Think the multigenerational DiGrasso family visiting Sicily in The White Lotus season 2.
Between 2010-2019, INTB estimates more than 10 million tourists who travelled to Italy made a trip to rediscover their roots, spending an estimated €5 billion.
It comes as INTB saw a fivefold year-on-year increase in Australian tourism to Italy between April 2022 and April 2023.
INTB Australia & New Zealand Country Manager Emanuele Attanasio said: “Italian descendants represent a tourism segment with enormous potential, not only from a visitation numbers perspective but also because of how and where they travel.”
“They often visit smaller regions and travel year-round outside of peak periods, which helps contribute to our mission of encouraging visitor dispersal across the country and the seasons.”
Roots trade tourism potential
The second ROOTS-in ancestry tourism trade event will see 500-plus international tourism stakeholders and operators gather in Basilicata from 20-21 November 2023.
ROOTS-in promotes roots tourism with international tour operators to develop specific packaged tours. Utracks, Albatross Tours and Holidays of Australia & The World will join INTB Australia & New Zealand at the event.
“This important event aims to elevate the expertise of tourism professionals when it comes to selling tourism products and experiences to this group of travellers. I am excited to be able to engage with some of our key partners at the event next month,” Mr Attanasio added.
“We know that the biggest advocates for Italy are Italians themselves. We hope to encourage those of Italian descent to visit lesser-known parts of the country and return home to become ambassadors and inspire others to discover a deeper side of Italy.”
Read about Karryon‘s recent trip to southern Italy with Back-Roads Touring here.
For more info, head to italia.it
