We Italians love to travel around the world and discover new exotic beauties, but what do our compatriots living abroad think? For many of them, being able to return “home” means diving into the past, or even visiting places they have never seen before – but perhaps heard a lot about. It’s about to Roots tourismwhich is a growing trend for 2024. Let’s find out more.
What are the roots of tourism?
During the Rimini Tourism Fair (TTG Travel Experience), there was an opportunity to explore what happened New travel trends expected for 2024. Among them, roots tourism stands out, which should enjoy the greatest splendor in the coming year. But what is the topic? As the name suggests, it is the type of tourism practiced by travelers Discover your origins, returning to the places of their childhood – or to those where their ancestors lived. For Italians living abroad, it is a great opportunity to learn more about their past.
A new analysis by Confcommercio and SWG appreciates well 60 million people Among Italians who emigrated around the world and their descendants, distributed among large communities living in Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Roots tourism could generate revenues of up to 8 billion euros for our country over the next year. Maybe a lot of Italians They have lived abroad for decades or were born thereThey actually have a desire to return to visit (or see for the first time) places associated with their past and their family’s past.
Roots tourism: who practices it?
Of course talking about Roots tourism Obviously, the target audience consists of Italian immigrants or people who come from Italian families. During TTG, the four types of travelers who will practice this type of tourism were presented.
There is the “Nostalgia”, an Italian who lived in our country and is therefore a first-generation immigrant. After being abroad for many years, he now wants to return to the places of his childhood with which he is still closely associated. He has no language problems, because he still speaks Italian, and knows how to find his way around Italy on his own. This experience is a way for him to share his past with his family.
“Ambassador” Instead, he’s someone who feels Italian, even though he’s not really, because he’s in the country often (usually for work reasons). Organize your trip to Italy without any problem, as you already know where to go and the places you will visit, and bring your family and friends with you. In short, a real certificate that promotes our culture and traditions abroad.
“Italian-…” He is a person who, as a second-generation Italian, has mixed roots and therefore defines himself on the basis of his origins (this is the case of the Italian-American, for example). For him, coming to Italy means discovering – perhaps for the first time – the places where his ancestors lived and where they may be buried today. It is thus a “new” journey that takes him to towns and villages he has never seen before, and therefore must be organized in more detail with the help of those who are more experienced.
Finally, there it is “curious”: Born abroad to Italian parents, he has so far only experienced our culture through the filter of social media, film and television. Now he wants to give himself the Italian experience, even without having to link it to the desire to discover his roots. For this reason, without having to visit his family’s places, he turns out to have the most popular tourist profile of all: he is likely to choose as destinations the most preferred destinations by foreign visitors in general.
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