Tourism: Veneto at the top with its assets and entrepreneurs

Venice - "Veneto has a wealth of invaluable assets to offer tourists from all over the world, but these results would not have been achieved without the professionalism of our entrepreneurs and their spirit of enterprise and willingness to invest and take risks despite these difficult times. Veneto acts as a close-knit team even in the difficult sector of incoming tourism, and this makes it a winner." These are the comments made by Luca Zaia, President of the Veneto Region, to the excellent results achieved by tourism in Veneto published in the 2017 Report on tourism compiled by Unicredit bank in collaboration with Touring Club Italiano.

According to the report, the Veneto Region ranks first in Italy in terms of tourist numbers, with double or triple the figure of competitors like Sicily or Campania, and for its capacity to attract foreign tourists, with tourist-related revenues comparable to those for the whole of southern Italy (over 5 billion euros). Veneto hit record figures in 2016, with 17.9 million tourist arrivals and a tourist presence of 65.4 million, but it could perform even better in 2017. "Veneto's tourist industry - the President points out - offers a vast range of attractions, including seaside and mountain resorts, lakes, spas, art cities, nature parks, small historic villages, and cultural events. It may seem easy to be a winner with so many strings to one's bow, but it isn't: you need team spirit and a great ability to promote the region's diversity."

"I'm convinced - adds Zaia - that it's possible to do even better in the future. Suffice to think of the level of development that Veneto, its tourist industry in this case, could achieve if it could hold on to the billions of euros' worth of taxes that currently fly to the central government in Rome never to come back, and if we could free them from the hated tentacles of national bureaucracy that does nothing but stifle anything it touches".