The Tourism Industry in Italy during the Great Recession (2008-12): What Data Show and Suggest

– The purpose of this article is to describe the evolution of the tourism industry in Italy during the recent years of the so-called ‘Great recession’ (2008-12). We highlight the most prominent features of the changes occurred in both the supply and the demand side, over these years. We describe the differences across different categories of accommodation structures, different kinds of destinations and different regions. The issue of “resilience” is used to explain the different degrees of success in responding to the national adverse shock hitting the industry. However, our interpretation is that deep structural changes in the demand and supply sides of the tourism industry, rather than specific resilient adjustments, have occurred in these years of recession.