Italy is also focusing on root tourism to revitalize the sector, with a 20 million euro plan to benefit especially small municipalities under five thousand inhabitants. In fact, today at the International Conference Hall of the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, the presentation event of the Project 'Roots Tourism: an integrated strategy for the recovery of the tourism sector in post-Covid-19 Italy' will be held.

The mayors of municipalities under 5,000 inhabitants, which are among the main recipients of the Roots Tourism project, will be involved in the event. The project, with a total value of 20 million euros, included in the National Resilience and Revitalization Plan, aims to adopt initiatives in the tourism sector aimed at the vast audience of Italians and Italian-born people around the world, thus contributing to its revitalization after the pandemic.

The initiatives that the Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs intends to promote with the 'Tourism of Roots' project, inspired by eco-sustainability and digitization, aim to enhance the small villages and rural areas of Italy through sustainable development dynamics, involving the renovation and recovery of disused housing and infrastructure and favoring providers of local services and products (food and wine, for example).

The Project has 8 components: 1) selection and training of tour operators on the Italian territory; 2) digitization of documents contained in the archives of civil status and registry offices in order to facilitate historical-family research by the roots tourist; 3) creation of ad hoc itineraries, to which personalized experiences can be combined, including in the food and wine sector; 4) creation of a network of emigration museums, in order to systematize activities dedicated to the in-depth study of local history, language and Italian culture; 5) creation of a 'Passport to Italian Roots', which would act as an incentive for Italodescendants for the tourist services they will enjoy in Italy; 6) organization of a major attraction event with identification of a year to be proclaimed as the 'Year of Italian Roots'; 7) conception of a communication campaign with the help of specialized partners and the involvement of famous testimonials for raising awareness among the communities of new-generation Italians and Italian oriundi abroad; 8) creation of a network with Italian universities for the study and monitoring of root tourism, including through the creation of a specific IT platform and the awarding of scholarships to young researchers.

Italian-descendants in the world represent a tourism segment with enormous potential for our country, it is stressed at the Farnesina. They generate sustainable tourism and international demand that uses infrastructure year-round. It is estimated that Italian oriundi number between 60 and 80 million. The main target countries for Italian emigration are Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay, Colombia, Paraguay, Chile, the United States, Canada, South Africa, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, and the United Kingdom.

Enit estimates that between 2010 and 2019 there were more than 10 million ascertained tourists from abroad who traveled to Italy to make a trip to rediscover their roots. Their estimated spending is more than 5 billion euros.