Tourism and Competition in the Italian Legal System Tommaso Bonetti Cecilia Sereni Lucarelli1 1. Tourism in the Italian Legal System: a Premise; 2. Tourism and Protection of Competition: the Case of the Concessions of Bathing Establishments; 3. Touristic Layout and Rules in Favour of Competition: Brief Notes on the Organisational Structure; 4. Tourism Policy and Competition Dynamics in Italy: Seeking a New Centre of Gravity? 1. TOURISM IN THE ITALIAN LEGAL SYSTEM: A PREMISE According to the most accredited statistical data, Italy ranks steadily in the first positions on a worldwide scale for the number of tourist visits per year; on the whole, the touristic sector makes a considerable part of the global domestic product2. We reach predictable data if we consider the quality and quantity of the touristic offer on the Italian soil, together with the abundant natural and artistic heritage available. 1 The present work is the outcome of a common reflection; in particular, paragraphs 1 and 3 are written by Tommaso Bonetti whereas paragraphs 2 and 4 are written by Cecilia Sereni Lucarelli. 2 In 2017, according to the World Tourism Organization, the arrival of foreign travellers in Italy was of 58.7 million, 11.8% more than in 2016. The tourism scale of payments of the Bank of Italy reported a profit of 14.598 million euros in 2017 (+5.7% than in 2016). The foreign travellers spent 39.155 million euros (+7.7% than in 2016). In terms of overnight stays, according to the provisory Eurostat data, Italy has a “silver medal” for presence of residents and not between countries of the Schengen area, after Spain and France. In 2017, Italy, with 427 million “nights” grew 6% in comparison to 2016. Considering only the foreign presence, Italy had 212 million nights and grew 6.3% in comparison to 2016. It is on the second place in the Schengen area, ranking after Spain, which grew less (+4%). According to the provisory data provided by ISTAT, the total arrivals in 2017 were 122.2 million, growing 4.5% from 2016. The Italian accommodation offer has registered 178.4 thousand accommodation businesses, of which 18.6% are represented by hotel businesses. Those in a medium category are first in the ranking (15.355 businesses) and the remaining 81.4% represent complementary businesses (145.283 businesses), of which more than a half is represented by rental accommodation (about 81 thousand). If beds are considered, the gap between the hotel facilities and the others shrinks considerably: hotels have 2.2 million beds (45.5% of the total) whilst the complementary ones have 2.7 million beds, with the biggest part represented by camping and touristic villages (50.4% of the complementary total). All data is available at www.ont.it.
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