Verso una politica turistica nazionale. Gli albergatori italiani di fronte alla prima guerra mondiale

Toward a national tourist policy. Italian hoteliers facing the First World War. At the beginning of the twentieth century the “Foreigner Movement”, as it was called at the time, played a role which started to play a significant role in the Italian economy. In spite of this fact, only a few members of the Italian government were aware really of the potential enjoyed by tourism in Italy; so much so that tourism was almost completely ignored by national economic policy. The situation changed rapidly with the outbreak of war. Differently from other economic activities, which the tourist trade suffered dramatically. Hotels experienced a significant decrease in the number of guests; many of them had to close, others were confiscated or used to house soldiers and sick people. On this occasion the hoteliers repeatedly asked for the state intervention. This led to the adoption of several legislative measures in order to avoid the collapse of the hotel industry. Even if the particular circumstances related to the wartime certainly influenced these decisions, they were of primary importance, as they represented a turning point in the Italian tourist policy.