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unique feature. Despite this, tourists coming to
Italy for seaside vacations still rank high, followed
by tourists arriving for the country's cultural
attractions.
A series of studies have shown that, in contrast
to what happens in other European countries,
Italy's high tourism prices with respect to product
quality are a determining factor in convincing
tourists not to repeat the experience of vacations.
Italy has the highest ratio of price to quality in
Europe, second only to Sweden, which is not
eminently famous for tourism. Another negative
aspect is the percentage of foreign tourism that
goes to the Italian Mezzogiorno, with its enormous
potential from the perspective of climate, culture
and vacation spots; fewer than 15 per cent of
foreign tourists visit this area and fewer than 20 per
cent of Italian tourists do so. Tourism �which could
be a fundamental economic leverage for the less
developed part of the country with high unemployment)
only confirms the general tendency to
concentrate economic growth in the country's
central and northern areas.
Italy is a country with an enormous heritage of
culture, art, nature and fine food that could exploit
its tourism resources to a much greater extent, both
economically and socially. A serious problem that
has developed over recent years is the lack of any
economic policy for tourism. In 1972, the national
government transferred the competence for
tourism to the regions, abdicating almost all its
jurisdiction in the sector; only some of the central
and northern regions have made good use of this
responsibility. In 1993, a national referendum
abolished the Ministry of Tourism. The Italian
State Tourist Office, in charge only of promotion
and advertising abroad, has also faced many
problems in assuming the responsibility of coordinating
touristic activities with the regional
governments.
Further reading
Formica, S. and Uysal, M. �1996) `The revitalization
of Italy as a tourist destination', Tourism
Management 17�5): 323±32.
McCourt Francescone, P. �1997) `Italy', International
Tourism Reports 1: 4±25.
Rognant, L. �1990) Un geo-systeÁme touristique national:
l'Italie, essai systeÂmique, Aix-en-Provence: Centre
des Hautes Etudes Touristiques.
Sessa, A. �ed.) �1992) Il sistema turismo Italia:
produzione, promozione, commercializzazione, Rome:
Quaderni dell'ANIEST.
itinerary
itinerary 335
ALBERTO SESSA, ITALY
An itinerary is a planned pattern of travel from
start to its completion. It contains details of
transportation schedules and accommodation,
including departure and arrival at different
places, duration of journey, activities at a destination,
and type of accommodation booked. An
itinerary may be priced as a total package tour
when provided by a tour operator, or each
component may be individually priced if an
independent tourist uses a travel agency or
books directly with the service provider. The
itinerary can include non-commercial activities.
CHRIS RYAN, NEW ZEALAND