Il turismo 2016-2018 a Pistoia Capitale Italiana della Cultura 2017

Elected capital of Italian culture for the year 2017, Pistoia has attracted a satisfactory number of visitors and extended its reputation beyond the conclusion of the prestigious event. The data of 2018 are indeed comforting and all positive compared to 2016. The decline accused against 2017, moreover expected, affected only hotel businesses and only Italian customers. Non-hotel businesses and foreign customers have always recorded positive changes. The region that contributed most to the receptivity of Pistoia in the 2016-2018 three-year period was Lombardy. The foreign component ranked first: Germany in number of presences and China in number of arrivals. On average, foreigners have stayed longer than Italians. The male population has prevailed over the female population in both components. The distribution by age, without being identical, does not present particular differences between Italian customers and foreign customers. Indeed it appears to be well correlated with the reasons given for the stay in Pistoia: free time, cultural interest, work, business, participation in fairs and congresses. Overall, the final balance related to the appointment as Italian capital of culture appears comforting and positive. The event, however, highlighted and illustrated the main reasons for tourist attraction, reasons that ask to be consolidated and expanded in order to satisfy a growing number of visitors, both hikers and guests of the city accommodation.