They call it “the most beautiful ship in the world.” The Amerigo Vespucci sailboat, the prestigious Navy training ship is currently engaged in a tour to introduce Italy to the four corners of the planet. This is an interministerial project for the promotion of Made in Italy. But that's not all: the Vespucci mission is also a big driver of roots tourism, a constantly growing phenomenon that affects a wide range of travelers, including between 60 and 80 million people and generates an expected annual expenditure of around 8 billion euros (Confcommercio data).
The Buenos Aires ruling
The stopover in Buenos Aires of the Vespucci tour was, in this respect, an important step.
Italy represents the leading destination in Europe for Argentine tourists. With a population of more than 46 million inhabitants, closely linked to Europe, around half of whom are of Italian origin, Argentina is certainly a market of interest for Italy: before the pandemic, in 2019 , there had been 704,000 arrivals from this country. , at a cost of 526 million euros (Data from ENIT Buenos Aires).
But not only that: as the graph below shows, Argentina has the largest community of Italians living abroad (one million and one hundred thousand registered with AIRE, Register of Italians residing abroad). Much more than in Germany and Brazil.
The speech of the Minister of Tourism, Daniela Santanché
“Argentina is a bit like our home for us Italians” – explained the Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanchè, who participated in the trip – “After all, one of the largest communities of Italians abroad resides here. For this reason, our presence here – in'Year of Italian roots in the world, takes on a deep meaning.”
The candidacy of Italian cuisine for UNESCO heritage
During the mission, Santanchè met the Secretary of State for Tourism Daniel Scioli, the Minister of the Interior of Argentina Guillermo Francos and the head of government of Buenos Aires Jorge Macriand participated in promotional initiatives with ENIT, Italian companies and tour operators.
“Root tourism is a strategic lever and a development opportunity for the revitalization of our villages and the seasonal adjustment of flows” – explained the Minister of Tourism. “But, beyond the economic aspect, we must also consider the emotional aspect linked to the feeling of belonging to our nation. This is why we invest heavily to carry out activities aimed at promoting Italian roots and excellence around the world, including food and wine. It is no coincidence that we promote the candidacy of Italian cuisine for UNESCO heritage, also here in Buenos Aires.
Rooted tourism in figures
But what do we know about roots tourism and its enormous potential for our economy? According to ENIT studies, international tourists who traveled to Italy during the first 9 months of 2023 to visit relatives and friends increased over the same period in 2022 (+15.6%) and in 2019 (+6.7%). And their expenses have also increased: by +6.4% in 2022 and by +45.6% in 2019.
This type of tourism is interesting because visitors stay longerthe flows are spread over several seasons of the year, there is a strong interest in purchasing typical local products and also for them “minor destinations”.
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Visiting family and acquaintances is the second reason why Italy is chosen as a travel destination, and information about vacations in Italy is collected primarily from relatives and friends who have visited the country or reside there, even before carrying out searches on the Internet, blogs, forums, travel sites, etc. (ENIT Research Office on data from the ENIT/Euromedia Research survey).
