The boom in American tourism has been touching all Mediterranean countries for some time now. American travelers in Spain grew by 14.6 % in a single year, in Portugal by 34.2 %, and in Greece by nearly 30 %.At home, record tourism numbers are more than just a trophy to show off.

Tthe boom in tourism is practically holding the Italian economy up. “It is an absolutely positive moment for tourism, we can say that we have left behind the dark years of the Covid. This summer alone we expect 1.5 million more tourists, with a growth of 3 million overnight stays,” says Federturismo President Marina Lalli. “Americans represent the driving force behind this growth.

In recent years we feared we had lost a significant share of high-spending tourists: first the Asians with Covid and then the Russians because of the war. What we have observed is that the growth in tourism by Americans has more than offset the decline in these two categories of tourists.”“Americans are by far the tourists who spend the most, stay in luxury hotels, eat in the best restaurants, and in many circumstances show that they do not have a real spending budget,” the Federturismo president further explains.

Americans are spending an average of 184.7 euros per night in 2023, up sharply from 126.2 in 2021, and those staying there longer, with an average stay of 10.6 nights. In 2023, the number of U.S. travelers grew 39.5 percent from 2.9 million in 2022 to 4.1 million last year, well above the 2.4 million who arrived from all of Asia last year. Out of every ten arrivals at the airport in May, the National Tourism Agency reports, one in ten is a U.S. citizen.

The concrete result is that in some of the pearls of our territory it is now almost easier to run into American tourists than Italian ones. Americans are the first nationality of tourists in Capri in Campania (31 %), Forte dei Marmi in Tuscany (32 %) and Portofino in Liguria (41 %) and the second - after Italians - in Taormina in Sicily (15 %) and Porto Cervo in Sardinia (18 %).

But, above all, they spend. According to the same report, between May and September 2023, 55 percent of the volume of purchases on the island of Capri were made by U.S. citizens.
“There are several factors that have driven this acceleration. Certainly the type of tourism, or rather of tourisms, offered by our country proved to be particularly appreciated by Americans coming out of the pandemic,” Lalli explains. “Then we must not forget other contingent elements, such as the favorable exchange rate and the new regulations on VAT refunds for non-EU travelers that make shopping in our country even more convenient.”

Since February, in fact, the threshold above which non-EU tourists can apply for a VAT refund on purchases made in Italy has dropped even further. The result is that above 70 euros Italian products benefit in fact from a 22 % discount. An assist that combined with the convenience of the euro/dollar exchange rate and a greater inclination to spend creates a perfect combination. “It must be said that after Covid we also observed a change in the habits of American tourists. Previously we observed a very strong share of organized tourism, now the share of travelers going it alone is growing, with higher per capita spending,” Federturismo's president adds further.

Airlines have also lent a hand, according to data collected by Hayley Berg, economist at booking platform Hopper: fares for flights from the United States to Rome, Barcelona, Athens and Paris this summer are 34, 37, 28 and 38 % cheaper than last year.