Don’t call it a lure. Call it an
incentive.
Travel to Italy is up due
in large part to a visa-free policy for 64 other countries, as noted by Travel and Tour World.
That includes the United States and the
United Kingdom and nearly a fourth of all the countries in the world.
The policy also includes countries in
the Schengen Area, a coalition of mostly European nations. The visa-free
policy is for both business and leisure travel.
Not
that Italy needed the help – the country drew 134 million tourists in 2023. That
translated to more than 450 million overnight stays.
The
list of countries where you don’t need a visa to visit Italy include Albania, Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda,
Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil,
Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, South Korea, Costa Rica, Dominica, El
Salvador, United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Japan, Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras,
Hong Kong, Solomon Islands, Israel, Kiribati, Kosovo, Malaysia, Macao, North
Macedonia, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia, Moldova, Monaco,
Montenegro, Nauru, Nicaragua, New Zealand, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Saint
Christopher (Saint Kitts) and Nevis, United Kingdom, Samoa, Saint Lucia,
Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, United States, St. Vincent and the Grenadines,
Taiwan, East Timor, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, Ukraine, Uruguay,
Vanuatu, Venezuela, France.
U.S. citizens are already permitted to enter Italy for
tourism or business without needing a visa.
Tourism injected more than
215 billion euros into the Italian economy last year. That number is expected to
rise to 223 billion euros in 2024. As a result, employment in the travel sector
is expected to rise another 100,000 jobs to more than 3 million.
This is despite a new
tourism tax in some cities, such
as Venice.
And with 2025 being a Jubilee year, tourism is expected to sky-rocket.
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