The restored Sicilian Bagli (traditional farmhouse) are rising in attractiveness among Chinese tourists, alongside historic villas in Tuscany, the Dolomites, the Cinque Terre, and Pompeii. Photo: Courtesy of Marco Leporati

Italy, in the first six months of 2025, confirms its position as one of the major destinations in the world thanks to its attractiveness to tourists, favored by the Jubilee year in Rome and the varied interest in cities like Milan, which, in May alone, had a tourist flow of over 900,000 - a 9 percent increase compared to 2024. 

Chinese tourism, in particular, has played an important role among the countries that have turned to Italy, such as the US, United Arab Emirates, and Europe, along with Thailand, South Korea, and Indonesia. According to data from the Italian National Tourism Board (Enit), Chinese outbound tourism has taken off again, recording extremely positive trends in 2024, up 44.6 percent year-on-year compared to 2023. Enit revealed that China is an important market for Italy's tourist industry: In 2024, Chinese visitors to Italy were approximately 176,000, up 24.7 percent compared to 2023, with a total of 2.4 million overnight stays (a 14.1 percent increase) and an overall expenditure of 226.6 million euros (up 10.2 percent).  

According to Enit statistics, for Chinese tourists, Italy is the top destination in Europe. This is due to the fact that the horizon of interest and curiosity has expanded beyond the renowned art cities, which remain strong as attraction poles, thanks to packages such as the "Tour of Beauties: Rome, Florence, Venice." 

Chinese holidaymakers prefer cultural activities, with 70 percent choosing art cities as their destinations, generating around 81 percent of the total expenditure in Italy and 78.4 percent of all overnight stays. Almost 21 percent of visitors from China, on the other hand, came for professional reasons.

However, there is a growing number of groups that have focused on different experiences, including the tasting of white truffles from the Langhe preceded by meetings with "trifulao" and their tabui dogs in autumn, rather than overnight stays in historic villas in Tuscany with tastings of prestigious Brunellos, Sassicaia, Ornellaia, and Bolgheri. These two models have then opened the doors to other mountainous and lakeside locations, including the southern part of Italy with its coasts and islands, and villages that combine art with good cuisine and the rituals of traditions.

What changes?  

All of this has been made possible by a transformation in air transport methods. Before the pandemic, connections with China were mainly managed by European airlines with stops at their hubs, except for services from Air China and the Italian airline Neos. 

Over the past two years, not only has Air China strengthened its position, now offering connections from Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino to Beijing, Shanghai, and other Chinese airports, but other Chinese airlines have also entered this Silk Road corridor, such as China Eastern, Hainan Airlines, and Sichuan Airlines. Currently, Italy has, compared to Europe, the highest number of weekly connections to China. In the first four months of the year: 67,680 airport arrivals from China, representing a 2.2 percent increase compared to the same period in 2024, which was already a record year. Almost all passengers (96.3 percent) travel for tourism reasons, and the main departure cities are Shanghai and Beijing, jointly generating more than half the arrivals in Italy, Enit reported. It also estimated that a 27 percent growth in arrivals from China is expected for the second half of 2025, together with an increase in package tour sales for the summer with peaks of over 50 percent.

"I foresee robust growth in the second half of this year, especially during the summer season and the Chinese holidays in September and October," explained Jerry Lin, vice general manager for Public Relations and the MICE (incentive travel) division of HCG International Travel Group Co Ltd (HCG), the largest Chinese online tourism platform Trip.com, better known as Ctrip.

 In 2024, HCG organized departures from China for 225,000 tourists or operators to foreign destinations, of which 60,000 were headed to Italy, representing about one-third of total arrivals in Italy from China. In the first part of this year, HCG served over 135,000 travelers on foreign routes, of which 37,500 were specifically to Italy. 

Tourists queue outside the Colosseo area in Rome, Italy, on July 1, 2025. Photo: VCG

Preferred destinations  

And it is not just about quick tourism. Stays last two weeks for 35 percent of arrivals, while 37.9 percent remain in Italy for four to seven nights. According to Ctrip, the most requested destinations in Italy are Rome, Milan, Florence, and Venice, with successful additions of visits to the Amalfi Coast, while Sicily is receiving favorable feedback, especially for incentive travel. Chinese tourists are also increasingly interested in the Cinque Terre, the Dolomites, Puglia, Pompeii, and Bologna. 

The fact is that the Chinese tourist wants to find a more familial hospitality experience to share with friends and not be classified solely as a shopper. In fact, in the ranking of high-spending tourists using digital payments presented in the recent Nexi-National Tourism Observatory Report, Italy is its top destination. Remembering that Italy has been the destination for centuries of grand tours by figures who have imparted a cultural and philosophical paradigm to Europe, a dimension characterized by minimalism and slowness to savor the country brings to mind a thought from German composer Richard Wagner, which, while dedicated to Lake Maggiore, can be extended to many Italian realities: "What I see are real beauties, or enchantments of dreams or fairy tales?"