Institutions and economic development in the italian tourism sector during the interwar years, 1919-1939

The paper examines the role of government in the tourism sector in Italy during the fascist period. The work adopted an institutional point of view. Here It does not consider others relevant players, such as hotel workers and hoteliers business associations. Although fascism was a totalitarian regime, these players had an important role but on this aspects there are some recent works by Italian scholars (such as Raspadori (2014), Teodori, and Zanini (2012)) which deal with several problems occurred during the fascist period and to whom this work refer to complete the picture. Economic tourism policy shows how institutions, in this case the state, were able to interpret the requests and needs of those working in the industry. Many legislative acts on tourism and hotels of that period are well known. However, what is lacking is an overall view of the link between policies and other important factors, such as the trade balance, the number of tourists and overheads. The paper will be structured as follows: 2. Historical economic background; 3. The role of the state and evolution of the sector during the inter war years; 4. Tourism policies for tourists and the hotel industry; 5. Tourist flows in Italy in the twenties and thirties; 6. Social tourism: spas; 7. Conclusions.