Tourism

More tourists, less value: Sicily's fragile model

According to the Prometeia-UniCredit report, in 2025 there will be 22.5 million presences: Italians are falling, foreigners are growing. Tourism is worth 4.2% of the island's economy, but remains weak in terms of expenditure and industrial structure

by Nino Amadore

17 March 2026

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Key points

Stable flows, but changing demand
More foreigners, but less value
Accessibility and competitiveness: Sicily slows down
A sector that weighs but does not become an industry
Fragmented supply and luxury in retreat
Untapped potential
The challenge: turning flows into value

4' min read

Translated by AI

Versione italiana

Growing in numbers, retreating in quality. Tourism in Sicily continues to move along an ambiguous line: on the one hand the steady flow, on the other a progressive weakening of the ability to generate value. This is the picture that emerges from the Prometeia study presented in Palermo during the Forum of Economies organised by UniCredit in collaboration with Federalberghi Sicilia.

This is a sector that, numbers in hand, already has a significant weight: 4.2% of the Sicilian economy and 4.8% of the national tourism industry, thanks to a system that involves transport, trade, agribusiness, and cultural and naturalistic offerings. The meeting, opened by Salvatore Malandrino, Regional Manager Sicily of UniCredit, and Nico Torrisi, President of Federalberghi Sicilia, saw the presentation of the study by Andrea Dossena, associate partner of Prometeia, followed by a round table with operators and scholars in the sector.

Stable flows, but changing demand

In 2025, presences exceeded 22.6 million, while arrivals stood at 7.35 million (+0.3%) . Only apparent stability. What has changed is the composition: tourism is growing exclusively thanks to foreigners. Italian presences fell below 10 million (-6.3%), while foreign ones rose to almost 13 million (+5.5%). As Prometeia pointed out in the study presented by Dossena, these are 'important changes in the composition and typology of tourists', phenomena 'to be interpreted in order to guarantee the Sicilian economy an important development contribution'.

More foreigners, but less value

The crux, however, is not the growth of international flows, but the value they generate. Sicily intercepts about 2.6 billion euro in foreign tourist spending, but lags behind national standards. The average expenditure per overnight stay stops at 96 euro, against the Italian average of 141 euro . The length of stay also remains lower: 3.1 nights, against the national average of 3.4 . What weighs most heavily is the drop in domestic demand, linked to the reduction in purchasing power. The same report recalls how Italia is among the Mediterranean countries with the highest share of the population that renounces travelling for economic reasons .

Accessibility and competitiveness: Sicily slows down

Difficulties also emerge in transport. In 2025, Sicilian airports reached 23 million passengers (+0.6%), but with growth lower than the national average and the competitor regions. In detail, Italian passengers are down (-1.7%), while foreigners are growing (+5.1%), but less than in Puglia and Sardinia, where the increase exceeds 13%. The result is a loss of relative speed in tourist flows.

A sector that weighs but does not become an industry

Despite these critical issues, tourism remains one of the pillars of the regional economy. 'UniCredit confirms its commitment to supporting Sicilian tourism, a key sector for the island's economic development,' Salvatore Malandrino emphasised. 'Through dedicated financial solutions and consultancy, we accompany businesses along a path of growth, innovation and quality of supply.

In the last two years, the group has disbursed EUR 2.9 billion in Sicily, of which EUR 1.5 billion to companies, also supporting the tourism sector. But growth is not translating into industrial strengthening. The system remains fragmented, with few medium-sized companies and no large players. A structure that affects profitability and financial solidity.

The study shows how size limitations have weighed on profitability, especially in the key sectors - hospitality and catering - and on capitalisation, which remains below the national average and that of Puglia and Sardinia .

Fragmented supply and retreating luxury

The fragility of the model also emerges in the supply side. The luxury hospitality segment, which is key to increasing average spending, is shrinking: beds in five-star facilities have fallen by 15% since 2019. For this reason, the report stresses, it is necessary to "revitalise the luxury hospitality segment", which is currently in difficulty just as international demand for quality is growing. Fragmentation also affects other strategic sectors, such as pleasure boating: Sicily is first in Italy for the number of landings, but only third for berths, a sign of small and uncompetitive facilities.

Untapped potential

The model also remains strongly unbalanced from a territorial point of view: the most attractive areas - Palermo and the east coast - concentrate most of the flows, while the inland areas remain marginal. Yet the potential is not lacking. Sicily, the study emphasises, is 'a natural tourist hub that has not yet been able to fully exploit its vast cultural, artistic, natural and food and wine heritage. A heritage that, on the contrary, is well perceived by foreign tourists, also thanks to the international visibility deriving from film productions and digital content.

The challenge: transforming flows into value

The direction is clearly indicated: 'investment and capital attraction seem to be obligatory paths' to sustain the sector's growth, especially as the end of the NRP push approaches. But the knot is deeper. It is not just a question of increasing numbers, but of changing the model. Because the risk is not having fewer tourists, but continuing to have many who leave little behind. And it is in this gap - between quantity and value - that Sicily's real economic game is played.