ROME -- Flipping the overtourism script that has dominated headlines in Europe over the last few years, speakers at the WTTC Global Summit said the real problem is a concentration of tourism in a handful of locations, while others are "starving" for travelers.
Consider Italy, the fifth most visited country in the world. Italy tourism minster Daniela Santanche said for 96% of Italy, the situation is one of "undertourism," and Italy prime minister Giorgia Meloni said it was essential to spread Italy's 58 million visitors around the country.
That was echoed by Francesco Cacciapuofi, chief sales officer for Trenitalia, who said 75% of international tourists visit only 4% of Italy, "focusing mainly on our major cities, so we have a huge growth potential to promote the remaining 96% of our country, which includes over 5,500 small towns and villages."
IHG Hotels & Resorts CEO Elie Maalouf said in response to the prime minister's comments that the problem is not just Italy's: As more people discover other parts of countries, including Italy, Spain and France, "we will have less stress about overtourism."
"We don't have an overtourism issue in the world," he said. "We have a mal-distribution of tourism. We have an overconcentration of it, where some places are starving and some places have too much. We just need to redistribute it."
When asked by WTTC chairman Manfredi Lefebvre what a company like IHG can do to help find balance, Maalouf said, "We can first work with the government to market these destinations. Social media technology helps us a lot, but it also concentrates people."
WTTC chairman Manfredi Lefebvre (left) interviewing IHG Hotels & Resorts CEO Elie Maalouf. Photo Credit: World Travel & Tourism Council
Citing the prevalence of top-10 lists, he said, "Everybody goes to the top 10 best places in Italy, France, Spain, Japan, everywhere, but there are hundreds and hundreds of great places. So we can work with government on marketing these places."
Another strategy is building tourism infrastructure in lesser-known areas, like IHG is doing in northern Umbria, a place most people have not heard about, he said.
"And then people will start traveling there and discovering parts of a country that aren't on, as we say in English, the beaten path, where the hordes are, where the buses are, where the cruise ships are," he said. "Nothing against buses and cruise ships, but we need to distribute the prosperity."