The indicator monitors the tourism pressure exerted on the territory both in terms of magnitude, expressed by tourist arrivals, and the pressure borne by the territory, represented by tourist overnight stays. In 2025, national values show a marked increase: the arrivals-to-resident population ratio rises to 2.7, while the overnight stays-to-resident population ratio reaches 9.1, further exceeding pre-pandemic levels. Some regions and autonomous provinces record particularly high values: Valle d'Aosta registers 13.0 arrivals and 36.9 overnight stays per resident, while the Autonomous Province of Bolzano reaches 16.7 and 70.6, respectively. These figures highlight particularly intense and geographically concentrated tourism pressure.

Coastal tourism infrastructure, and marinas in particular, exert significant pressures on marine and coastal ecosystems. The indicator assesses the potential environmental pressure associated with recreational boating through the total number of berths and their density per kilometre of coastline at regional level.

In 2024, a total of 162,745 berths was recorded in Italy, with a national average density of 19.7 berths per kilometre of coastline. These values show a slight increase compared with 2023. The territorial distribution remains highly uneven, with particularly high densities in some regions characterised by a strong concentration of boating infrastructure.

Italian parks host within their territories approximately 21.7% of the total accommodation establishments and 24.4% of the total bed places available in Italy. In 2025, the municipalities affected by national and regional parks account for a total of 160,270 accommodation establishments and approximately 1.88 million bed places.

The indicator provides an analysis of accommodation supply, tourism flows and tourism intensity in the territories of national and regional parks, with the aim of highlighting the pressure exerted by tourism on areas characterised by high natural value. In 2025, the overall ratio between tourist overnight stays and the resident population in the municipalities affected by parks reached 10.1 overnight stays per inhabitant, increasing compared with 2024.

The European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Protected Areas (ECST) has been obtained by 19 of the 26 national parks, equal to 73.1%, and by 21 of the 147 regional parks, equal to 14.3%, highlighting a still markedly differentiated level of uptake between the two types of protected area.

The indicator measures the dependence of Italian tourism on international markets, particularly the most distant ones, and allows us to assess the potential environmental impact associated with long-distance travel. In 2025, total stays in Italian accommodation facilities will reach 535.5 million; 83.7 million are attributable to tourists from countries more than 2,000 km away, equal to 15.6% of the total. This share, up from 14.8% in 2024, reaches the highest value in the 2015-2025 series. The growing influence of distant markets represents a critical element for environmental sustainability, as long-distance travel, generally associated with air travel, has a greater climate impact.

The indicator allows us to quantify the accommodation capacity of hotels, complementary facilities, and bed and breakfasts in the area, as well as estimate the level of hotel occupancy. In the updated series, the net hotel occupancy rate stands at 53.3% in 2025, slightly down from 55.2% in 2024, but remains high compared to the historical series. Total accommodation capacity reaches approximately 7.7 million beds; the significant increase observed compared to the previous year primarily affects complementary facilities and must be interpreted with caution, taking into account the changes in coverage and classification of the surveyed facilities.

Tourism continues to be strategic for the Italian economy, but its attractiveness depends on a healthy environment. The indicator quantifies the air emissions generated by tourist trips made by road.

In 2024, passenger cars remained the dominant source, accounting for 95.6% of CO emissions, 97.3% of VOC emissions, 88.8% of NOx emissions, 85.4% of PM2.5 emissions and 93.4% of CO₂ emissions. Recreational vehicles—motorhomes, caravans and vans—made a particularly significant contribution to PM2.5 emissions (12.7%) and NOx emissions (9.4%).

Following the sharp decline recorded in 2023, national emissions decreased further in 2024, although at a slower rate, with reductions ranging from 3.6% to 6.7% depending on the pollutant. Emission levels therefore remained below those recorded in 2019.

The indicator measures the pressure exerted by tourist flows on Italy’s waste management system and is used as a proxy for monitoring Goal 12 of the 2030 Agenda, specifically SDG indicator 12.b.1.

The expanded methodology provides a more comprehensive and realistic estimate of the equivalent tourist population. In addition to officially recorded nights spent in tourist accommodation establishments, it includes nights spent in free accommodation—such as second homes and the homes of relatives or friends—as well as same-day visits.

In 2024, the indicator reached 16.2 kg per equivalent inhabitant, an increase of approximately 0.5 kg compared with 2023 and more than 5 kg above the value calculated using the “conventional” equivalent population, which amounted to 10.8 kg per equivalent inhabitant.

Second homes remained the main component accounting for this difference, adding 4.3 kg, followed by same-day visits, which added 1.2 kg. The result confirms the increasing pressure of tourism on municipal cleansing and waste management services, particularly in highly seasonal destinations, and strengthens the need for waste prevention and collection policies tailored to emerging patterns of tourism use.

The indicator analyzes the average CO₂ emissions per passenger in air travel, as proxy of the climate impact of air transport associated with tourism. It is calculated as the ratio between the total CO₂ emissions of passenger flights and the number of passengers transported. After the increase recorded in the two-year pandemic period, due to the strong reduction in passengers compared to operational flights, the indicator shows a progressive improvement: in Italy it goes from 87.67 kg CO₂/passenger in 2019 to 77 in 2023, reaching 81.12 kg CO₂/passenger in 2024, rising in the last available year. In the European comparison, Italy is placed at values ​​lower than the EU27 average (94.80 in 2024), but still distant from the best performances observed in some countries (values ​​around 57 kg CO₂/passenger), signaling margins for further decarbonisation actions in the sector.

In 2024, inbound tourist flows at national borders continued to grow, reaching 88.6 million foreign visitors, compared with 85.7 million in 2023, an increase of 3.4%.

Air travel overtook road transport as the main mode of entry in 2024, accounting for 50.6% of inbound flows, while the share entering through road border crossings continued to decline, falling to 45.9%. Rail and sea arrivals remained marginal, accounting for 1.5% and 1.9%, respectively.

For trips made by residents in Italy within the country—the domestic component—passenger cars remained by far the dominant mode and increased their share further. In 2024, cars accounted for 72.6% of domestic trips, compared with 69.5% in 2023, while the share of rail travel declined to 12.4%, from 13.5% in 2023.

Overall, the modal structure confirms that the shift towards lower-impact modes of transport remains limited.

During the pandemic, particularly in 2020, the Italian tourism sector experienced a sharp contraction in economic activity, measured in terms of value added, as a result of travel restrictions and reduced demand. In this context, greenhouse gas emissions attributable to the tourism ecosystem did not decrease in the same proportion as economic output. Some emission sources, such as the maintenance of tourism infrastructure and indirect emissions associated with the sector, remained relatively stable, resulting in an increase in emission intensity, expressed as tonnes of CO₂ equivalent per million euros. The indicator rose from 60.51 in 2019 to 84.02 in 2020.

From 2021 onwards, and particularly during 2022–2023, the recovery in tourism activity and an improvement in overall efficiency led to a marked and progressive decline in emission intensity, which fell to 45.48 in 2022 and 38.35 in 2023.

This improvement brought Italy not only below its pre-pandemic level but also below the EU27 average of 50.36 in 2023, indicating significant progress in the relative climate sustainability of the sector, although further improvement remains possible compared with the best-performing countries.

The indicator monitors the spread of agritourism farms, a form of tourism integrated into the local area that helps reduce the impact of infrastructure on biodiversity and the landscape.

Between 2003 and 2024, the sector grew by 102%, increasing from approximately 13,000 to more than 26,000 agritourism farms. The number of establishments offering accommodation increased by 99%. Agritourism farms offering “green activities”, particularly nature observation activities, also recorded significant growth.

The Blue Flag is confirmed as one of the most prestigious international environmental awards for beaches and tourist marinas. In 2025, Italy further consolidates its position among the leading nations in terms of the number of certified locations, reaching 487 Blue Flags for beaches and 84 for tourist marinas. The overall increase compared to 2024 reflects a continuous commitment to the sustainability of coastal and lakeside destinations, as well as a steady improvement in water quality and environmental management of tourist areas.

The indicator illustrates electricity consumption in the tourism sector, identified by the ATECO branch “Accommodation and Food Service Activities”. In 2024, electricity consumption in the sector amounts to 89,987 GWh, an increase compared to 2023 (87,565 GWh). The trend confirms the recovery in consumption following the pandemic phase. Considering only accommodation activities, consumption shows differentiated dynamics over time and across space, while within the “accommodation” subcategory the contribution of hotels and similar establishments continues to prevail, albeit within a context of gradual diversification of accommodation types.

The indicator aims to provide a quantitative estimate of the contribution of tourists to daily potable water consumption.

In 2022, at the national level, the recorded tourist movement consumed 4 liters of potable water per capita equivalent per day.

Between 2015 and 2018-2020, a growth in consumption was recorded, increasing from 3.7 to 4 liters per capita equivalent, followed by a sharp drop in 2020, an anomaly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, which halted global travel.

Among the infrastructures for tourism activities, golf courses have a strong impact on the surrounding environment. The consumption of resources (e.g., water extraction, land occupation, etc.) and the pollution produced, for example, by the use of pesticides, are the main concerns. In response, the Italian golf movement is increasingly directing its development toward an environmentally friendly approach through certifications (GEO) or environmental recognitions. In 2022, the total number of golf courses was 367.