In 2024, the number of tourist arrivals in the Italian region of Sicily experienced an annual increase. That year, Palermo was the province with the highest volume of arrivals, with the combined number of international and domestic arrivals totaling almost *** million. Palermo was also the province with the highest number of tourist overnight stays in Sicily in 2024.

The number of tourist overnight stays in the Italian region of Sicily increased sharply in 2023 over the previous year, recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, Palermo was the province with the highest volume of overnight stays in 2023, with the combined nights spent by international and domestic visitors reaching nearly 3.9 million that year. Palermo was also the province with the highest number of tourist arrivals in Sicily in 2023.

In 2023, the share of travel and tourism's total contribution to Italy's gross domestic product (GDP) nearly equaled the figure reported in 2019, the year before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, travel and tourism generated, directly and indirectly, roughly **** percent of the country's GDP in 2023. That year, the total contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in Italy amounted to nearly *** billion euros. What is the contribution of travel and tourism to employment in Italy? In 2023, the total contribution of travel and tourism to employment in Italy recovered from the impact of the health crisis. Overall, these industries generated, directly and indirectly, just under ************* jobs in 2023, denoting a ****-percent increase from 2019. What are the leading inbound tourism markets in Italy? In 2023, the total international tourist expenditure in Italy, including overnight and same-day visitors, surpassed ** billion euros, the highest figure reported to date. When breaking down the inbound tourism expenditure in Italy by country, Germany ranked as the leading market, ahead of the United States, the United Kingdom, and France.

The expenditure of international tourists in Italy increased in the second quarter of 2024 compared to the previous year. Between April and June 2024, spending by visitors from EU countries amounted to roughly 8.1 billion euros, whereas it totaled around 7.5 billion euros in the second quarter of 2023.

The southern region of Sicily was the Italian region with the highest number of airports with six facilities, four on the main island and two more on the surrounding islands of Pantelleria and Lampedusa. Sicily was followed by Apulia, Lombardy, Tuscany, and Emilia-Romagna, all with four airports each.

The Italian air traffic stopped by the pandemic

Tourism, food, and art seemed to positively push the figures related to the number of arriving and departing passengers in Italian airports.
From 2014 to 2019, the Italian air passenger traffic experienced an upward trend, peaking at more than 191 million in 2019. Unfortunately, the air traffic in Italy suffered one of the worst declines in its history. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of passengers decreased by 72.4 percent in 2020. Over the same year, Ryanair was the company carrying the highest number of passengers to and from Italy, reaching 11.8 million passengers.

Where do Italians fly to?

Italians seem to enjoy travelling. According to the data, in 2019 almost 5.5 million passengers travelling from and to Italy had the U.S. and Canada as countries of origin or destination of their travels. Compared to European destinations the number is quite low; the number of passengers flying within the Europe amounted to 106.9 million in 2019.