Les organisations patronales dans le secteur touristique: le cas de l'industrie hôteliere italienne (1899-1946)

Despite the important economic contribution of tourism and the hotel industry to the Italian economy during the 20th century, historians have only recently begun to pay attention to this sector and to its role in the Italian economic development. Therefore, it is not surprising that several aspects are still waiting to receive scholars’ attention. Neglected topics seem to be the history of tourism enterprises and the history of tourism-related organizations. Apart from some commemorative or celebratory books, there is a gap to be filled in Italian and foreign literature about business associations in the hotel industry. Our work aims to outline origins, development and functions of the Italian Hoteliers’ Association from its foundation (1899) to the 1940s. Using coeval specialized periodicals and unpublished sources, we shed light on the main changes occurred during the liberal period, the fascist era, and the immediately post-World War II years. We focus our attention on the genesis and development of the organizational structure, its representativeness, the evolution of its aims and strategies, as well as its political relations. We also explain the main reasons that determined the success or failure of the association goals and whether the association itself was really able to foster the development of the Italian hotel industry and of the tourist sector as a whole.