The interaction between tourist presences and cultural heritage visitors in the territories of Tuscany

The objective of this note is to analyse the relationship between tourist presences and visitors to cultural heritage at the Tuscan sub-regional scale. It is well known that cultural heritage is one of the main reasons for the attraction of tourist flows in the region, with positive repercussions in terms of the creation of job opportunities and income, but also with growing criticalities in areas of greater demand pressure and excessive seasonal concentration. Analysing the interaction between the two types of presences – tourists and heritage visitors – at the local scale can therefore provide useful indications on the places of greatest ‘imbalance’ and on the opportunities to utilise the cultural offer, connected to heritage but also to the organisation of events, in order to favour a fairer distribution of tourist flows on the territories and in the different seasons.

Since this is a structural analysis, data from 2019 – the last pre-Covid year – are taken into account here for both tourist presences (i.e. only those staying overnight in official accommodation) and visitors to museums and similar institutions. As soon as the data to 2023 from the ISTAT survey on museums are available, the analysis can be repeated in search of possible changes in visiting behaviour, since the tourist presences in the year 2023 mark a complete return to pre-Covid levels, but also significant changes in the composition by origin, with a decisive decrease in the domestic share.

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