Friuli Venezia Giulia: 11 million presences in 2025 and a brand as a driver of tourism strategy

In 2025 Friuli Venezia Giulia exceeded 11 million tourist presences, registering an increase of 6.5% compared to the previous twelve months, with an increase of 7.6% of Italians and 5.8% of foreigners. What until a few years ago had been seen as a goal to aspire to, the threshold of 10 million presences, has been bypassed in 2024, in a steady growth path embracing art cities and cultural sites, mountain and seaside tourism.

But what has happened to this North East region to succeed in increasing the number of tourists by 20% in six years? Strategy, focus on promotion through media and information campaigns, organisation of events and participation in national and international events, coupled with the communication capacity and visibility of the 'I am Friuli Venezia Giulia' brand, together with the claim chosen to represent the region, 'There is a whole world'. Furthermore, the synergy with Trieste Airport, the regional airport of Friuli Venezia Giulia (1.65 million passengers in 2025), with which a close collaboration in terms of planning and incoming tourists has been set up, will also lead to Trieste hosting in 2027 "Connect Aviation", the main European B2B forum for the development of air routes, which will welcome more than 800 delegates (including airlines, airports, tourist destinations) to increase the attractiveness of the airport and the entire region.

PromoTurismoFVG is the Region's functional public economic body for the promotion of tourism in the region: it plans and organises the tourism offer through multiple products and services, defining and implementing the strategic marketing policy of the regional tourism system, and directly manages a volume of regional contributions that has risen from 6.3 million in 2022 to over 12.2 million in 2024, a sign of an expansion of tourism and cultural incentive policies. An operational machine that administers tens of millions per year on behalf of the Region: from the management of the six ski poles (Forni di Sopra/Sauris, Piancavallo, Ravascletto/Zoncolan, Sappada/Forni Avoltri, Sella Nevea, Tarvisio) to the Porto Vecchio dockyard and an area of the maritime state property in Lignano Sabbiadoro, as well as the recent management of the Arta spa, and the shareholdings for the management of beaches in the region's two main seaside resorts, Grado and Lignano Sabbiadoro.

PromoTurismoFVG is growing in terms of attendance, but also in terms of budget: in the last few years, between 2022 and 2025, turnover has risen from 66 to over 100 million euros, an increase that goes hand in hand with a significant growth in the effectiveness of the tourism promotion agency. At the same time, management costs are also rising, linked to the expansion of activities and the strengthening of territorial promotion policies, while a significant infrastructure investment plan continues, which in the last 24 months has led to the redevelopment of the Grado Spa (over 5.8 million) and the securing of the Lignano Dock (1.2 million). The management of mountain tourist centres, which represents one of the main areas of operation, shows a growing revenue trend. The 2025/2026 ski season closed with a +7.7 per cent increase in first admissions - equal to 976,259 skiers - and 10,430,674 passages, up by 6.4 per cent compared to the winter of 2025/2026, and investments continue to be made in the mountains, with 67.2 million euros allocated for the three-year period '25-'27 of planned works on the poles and a great focus on deseasonalisation.

The area of destination management, the heart of marketing and promotion activities, is also booming: expenditure on promotional campaigns shows an upward trend: from about EUR 6.1 million in 2022 to EUR 4.8 million in 2023 - a year characterised by a more selective and high-impact strategy - to over EUR 9 million in 2025.