People want to see history, nightlife and museums.
Unfortunately most of that is centered around 4% of the landmass
this post was submitted on 10 Aug 2025
157 points (99.4% liked)
Map Enthusiasts
4888 readers
328 users here now
For the map enthused!
Rules:
-
post relevant content: interesting, informative, and/or pretty maps
-
be nice
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Even if Italy is a cultural destination I think you give tourists too much credit.
The bulk of them wants to go to the same overcrowded beaches and do nothing except get a tan and being pampered by their all in resorts.
I consider that fortunate, I stay away from those places and am glad they don't bother me.
I've never heard of anyone going to Rome or Venice for the beaches.
You are responding to Putin's troll who probably never left Russia.
Yeah. If I ever get opportunity to visit Italy, I'll be going to see works of Michaelangelo, Bernini, Leonardo etc. That means Rome, Milan, Venice, and Florence.
Even if Italy is a cultural destination
Wasn't that obvious enough?
There's this annoying genocide supporting troll FelixCress following me, mods should kick him out into the gutter where he belongs.
You never been west of Minsk despite pretending otherwise, have you Yura? Keep trying, every comment re how great Putin is and how awful Ukrainians are lands you with five rubles after all.
Sure idiot.
I've been around the world, unlike you, an american peasant that's never went out of his trailer trash village besides from that one time to mary your sister.
Fuck off nazi loser and stop following me around.
Get on your mobility cart and go get your foodstamps.
I'll block you anyway, don't need your stink near me.
I've been around the world,
Petersburg with your school doesn't count, Yura.
I bet the numbers are very similar in any other tourist heavy country.
Right? Like even if tourists are visiting the countryside, they're going to be spread out across all the available space.
I bet Australia has a tiny number.
Is that odd? I'd expect the majority of Japanese tourists to go to Tokyo, Britain to London, France to Paris, etc
I honestly thought that most tourists go to Italy for the beaches. Not sure if this graphic takes into account how long visitors stay, I'd expect beach holiday tourists to stay longer than city tourists on average.
Italy certainly has nice beaches, but I'd be surprised if it's the primary draw for a lot of people. There are plenty of places with nice beaches on the Med. Two of the three bright red regions on that map aren't beach destinations (one isn't even coastal) and Rome itself obviously has heaps going on besides being by the water
Not to mention there are nice beaches on every continent, so they're much less of an incentive for any non-European tourists. Of course, I doubt non-Europeans are the majority, but still very significant.
In the Americas you have the Caribbean, in Asia you have Bali and Thailand, and even within Europe you have Mallorca, Ibiza and other options.
Meanwhile, only in Italy do you have the Colosseum and all of that famous stuff
I'm not sure I'd call Rome "by the water." Ostia is like 15 miles away and a whole separate town.
Places like Lignano, Bibione, Caorle AFAIK get a lot of beach tourism from Austria. They're the closest beaches to our unfortunately landlocked country...
There are plenty of places with nice beaches on the Med.
Yes, but Italy is a lot closer to Germany or Switzerland than the Croatian or French mediterranean coast, nevermind Spain or Greece. Distance matters, lots of people still drive to their holiday destinations.
I think the surprise here is venice. Not most tourist go to Colmar in France, or to stonehenge in UK, or to mount fuji in Japan...
You’re saying it’s a suprise Venezia (Venice), has the most yearly tourists? Seems unsuprising to me. It’s all everyone talks about.
I mean Venice has near 10 times the name recognition of say Colmar.
I think a better comparison might be Machu Pichu in Peru?
If you want to stick to something French that isn't a big city, maybe mont st-michel? Maybe not quite the same recognition as Venice but huge tourist destination in relation to size kind of thing?
If you're only going to spend a week in Italy in your life, then you want to see all the iconic Italian stuff.
People who visit the U.S. (not that anyone does, or should anymore) want to see New York, Hollywood, and maybe San Francisco and Miami. No one comes to see Topeka or Cheyenne.
I suspect mapping tourists to the USA would require moving that decimal several places to the ~~right~~ left
400%?
lol. Touché. In my defense, I have not slept in days.
Don't do that to yourself! Take some sleep aids for something!
No time, alas. I dont get paid to sleep. Off work now tho and heading to dreamland.
I think the Italians living in the remaining 96% don't mind the lack of tourists.
Not Italian but can confirm the relief moving from Rome to a smaller Northern city,
Still 25% that visit that 4%, so not necessarily 0 tourists.
People like to do what they think people should be doing in order to appear like a person
Underrated insightful comment.
I did my part by going to Sicily last year /s
Venice, Rome, and Naples don't surprise me (well, Naples surprises me a little that it's that low). But why is South Tyrol so popular?
Naples is the entry point for Pompeii and the amalfi coast. So maybe it’s less that people don’t go there and more they don’t stay there as long?
I expected the number on the map to be for the entire Naples area, including Pompeii and Capri. Is it not?
I'm not sure. Looks like it's by city, rather than by district. The coloured area looks small for the region of Campania. However, my Italian geography is fleeting.
I once went to the wrong town when going to a friend's wedding. It was in the local town hall in Friuli and we assumed cividad di Friuli meant town hall, but it was a different town, lol.
The dolomite mountains are spectacular. However such data may be distorted somewhat near borders, if the definition of tourist includes anybody who happens to cross from a neighbouring country for the day. For example, I recall crossing SüdTirol by train, traveling from Linz (Austria) to Innsbruck (Austria) - it's a beautiful route - and there is a convenient cross-border transport pass too.
Maybe it's popular with German monolinguals and it's cheaper than Swiss or Austrian ski resorts? I dunno, I'm pulling that out of my ass.
Big skiing/cycling/walking area. Much better than the rest of the Alps IMO.
Skiiing maybe