Tourism, Italy calls Osaka for dialogue on overtourism issues

With Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan is preparing for a tourism surge. With an event that will attract millions of visitors from around the world, the challenge of tourist overcrowding looms. In addition to Osaka, iconic destinations such as Tokyo, Kyoto and Shirakawa-go, already struggling with the weight of their popularity, are preparing for a greater influx of travellers. In the Kansai region where Osaka is located, an estimated 30 million visitors are expected to arrive during the World Expo period. The Osaka - Kansai region is the cradle of Japanese civilisation, rich in sites and buildings of historical value, many of them UNESCO World Heritage Sites. It also hosts important cultural events and is home to renowned Shinto shrines and Buddhist temples. On the sustainability of tourism in many areas of Japan and the world, some of which are being crushed by the phenomenon of overtourism, the theme chosen for this year's edition, 'Designing future society for our lives', leads one to reflect.

A window on the theme of the impact of tourism and how to solve growing phenomena such as overtourism and the need to propose a sustainable and inclusive tourism offer is offered on Thursday 17 April at the 2025 edition of FITI (International Tourism Forum) organised by Il Sole 24Ore in Florence (9.30 am-1.30 pm - Villa Vittoria, Piazza Adua 1), which will host, after greetings from the patroness of the Italian pavilion Serena Autieri, a speech by Mario Vattani, Commissioner General for Italy at Expo 2025 Osaka, entitled 'The beauty of Italy before the eyes of the world', which will focus on the strategic role of the Universal Exposition as a driving and growth factor for the image of Italy, the nation that boasts the largest number of Unesco sites in the world, its peculiarities, the uniqueness of its places, its artistic, cultural and intangible heritage, such as Italian cuisine (the official pronouncement of Unesco is expected on 10 December 2025 in New Delhi). During FITI, discussions will also be held on how artificial intelligence can help safeguard heritage and solve overcrowding problems. Among the many appointments hosted by the Italian Pavilion Expo 2025 there is the one promoted by Most@Expo Osaka, organised by the National Centre for Sustainable Mobility (Sunday 20 April at 3pm), an opportunity to present some of the projects developed by the Foundation, launched by Mur in 2022 as part of the NextGeneration EU, thanks to the synergies between partners (24 universities, CNR and 24 large companies).