Tourism as a driver of growth for the hospitality and catering sector in Italy

The hospitality and catering sector belongs to the tourism, leisure and communications sector. The hospitality and catering sector is made up of an array of companies operating both in the Italian hospitality and in food, wine and cultural services, both in information, communication and IT services to the previous ones. Our research goals are numerous. The first is to examine the impact of the tourism on hospitality and catering sector demand in Italy, by comparing the growth potential of this economic sector with the reference target. The second is to observe how catering service demand in the Italian market has changed in recent years, as a consequence of changes in the socio-demographic and economic behaviour of the context in question. It emerged that tourism represents an important driver in the Italian hospitality and catering sector, due to the richness of its landscapes and its resources in terms of food, wine and culture, Italy is universally renowned as a country with a vocation for tourism. In addition, the Italian catering sector is particularly sensitive to socio-demographic changes, as it is influenced by external factors linked to the macro-economic context, and by other factors linked to the perceptions and desires of individuals. The research present several limitations. In order to overcome them, it would be interesting to evaluate the impact of tourism on sectors other than catering. Furthermore, using an econometric model, it would be interesting to quantify the impact of a series of external and internal variables on the tourism business and, within this, on the catering business.