Attrattività delle città costiere del Mediterraneo: il turismo internazionale

Contemporary cities are the result of a combination of individual choices, which are-increasinglydifferentiated in order torespondnot onlyto theneeds and expectations of the residents, but also to the requests coming from the rising number of populations temporar¬ily crossing them. It is common knowledge that tourists have assumed a dominant role in cities due to two main factors: on the one hand, the worldwide steady increase in tourism over the past thirtyyears, with the exceptionof slight downturns (i.e.thetwo years after the attack on the twin towers); on the other hand, the economic power exercised by tourism and the consequences it has on the destinations. The urban areas of the south of Europe are not exempted from the dynamics of these social and economic changes. In particular, this article presents the results of an empiric study of migration flows and international tourism-related consumption in some coastal towns in the south of Italy between 2006 and 2016. The analysis was conducted with the technical support of cartographic representa¬tions of data (Geographic Information System).Thanks to the analysis of the data stored in the Banca d’Italia archive, the work focuses on two main aspects of the international tour¬ism demand. Firstly, the entity and the features of the flows (according to age, provenance, motivation) will be studied, in order to identify the specific attractiveness of the various destinations. Secondly, the study aims to analyze the dynamics of the consumption pat¬terns in international tourism, with particular attention to daily expenses, such as transport, food and accommodation, entertainment (i.e. shows, events, excursions) and culture (i.e. museums, theatres).The aim of the study is to problematize the principal changes in the international tourism demand highlighting new trends emerging in Mediterranean towns, in particular in the south of Italy. A lack of horizontal and vertical subsidiarity has been noted, including the deficiency of government and governance measures, which would allow these towns to plan a more effective tourism offer, consolidating the idea of the territory as a heritage and a project. This deficiency has led to the outlining of a tourism offer that mainly tends to rhetorically emphasize some scarcely significant traits rather than focus on the identity of the places themselves.