The southern Italian region Calabria has become one of Italy's fastest-growing travel destinations over the past three years. As ANSA reports from the latest study by Teha Group, the Regione Calabria invested around 47 million euros in destination marketing between 2023 and 2025, generating a total economic impact of 5.8 billion euros, equivalent to 14.1 per cent of the region's economic output over the same period. The study was presented on 6 August in Falerna, in the Province of Catanzaro, in the presence of Regional President Roberto Occhiuto and Tourism Assessor Giovanni Calabrese.
The study's figures in detail
The analysis comes from the economic institute Teha Group, the same institute that organises the annual Forum of Cernobbio on Lake Como . The study covers the years 2023 to 2025, during which total revenue from Calabrian tourism grew continuously: from 1.6 billion euros in 2023 to 1.8 billion in 2024 and 2.4 billion in 2025. The region's growth trajectory has thus accelerated markedly.
Between 2021 and 2025, tourist arrivals in Calabria rose by a total of 75.2 per cent. By comparison, the increase between 2015 and 2019 stood at 28 per cent, meaning the region is currently growing at nearly three times the rate seen in the pre-pandemic period. The study places this growth within a broader southern Italian trend, in which the neighbouring regions of Puglia and Sardinia have also been gaining significantly in international visibility in recent years.
International visitors at record levels
Particularly striking is the rise in the share of international visitors. Their proportion of total arrivals reached a historic high of 23 per cent in 2025, representing growth of 45.6 per cent compared with 2024. This places Calabria second among southern Italian regions for growth in international arrivals, behind Puglia with a rise of 54.9 per cent and ahead of Sardinia at 42.5 per cent. For a region that long languished in the shadow of Italy's better-known destinations, this represents a remarkable shift in standing.
The spending power of international visitors is an additional factor. According to the study's data, foreign guests in Calabria spend an average of 1,114.60 euros per trip, the highest figure among all southern Italian regions. Total expenditure by international visitors reached 474 million euros in 2025, an increase of 91.3 per cent on the previous year. This figure, too, sets a record for southern Italy. As the Corriere di Lamezia summarises from the presentation in Falerna, the total economic impact of tourism in 2025 thus reached 2.4 billion euros, equivalent to six per cent of Calabria's GDP, comprising 1.1 billion from international and 1.3 billion from Italian visitors.
What makes Calabria attractive for travellers
The region's rise has several structural explanations. The Calabrian coastline stretches for around 780 kilometres between the Tyrrhenian and Ionian Seas, offering a combination of largely unspoilt beaches, the inland ridges of the Sila and Aspromonte mountains, and a price structure that remains considerably more modest than that of the Amalfi Coast or Liguria. Along the Costa degli Dei between Tropea and Pizzo , international tourism has developed particularly strongly in recent years, driven by demand for smaller, family-run properties and boutique addresses such as Villa Paola in Tropea. Ionian Calabria, with towns such as Locri, Roccella Ionica and Le Castella, is also benefiting from rediscovery by international guests, as is the Province of Reggio Calabria along the Strait of Messina.
What this means for travellers
For those planning to visit Calabria in the coming years, the region remains relatively uncrowded compared with the classic Italian holiday staples, with extensive stretches of coastline that are far less busy even in high season than the Amalfi Coast or the Costa Smeralda. July and August represent the traditional peak season, while the shoulder months of May, June and September remain attractive for those wishing to experience the region without the full summer heat and peak-season prices.
Whether the current growth trend will continue in the years ahead depends not only on the region's marketing investment, but also on further improvements to infrastructure, accommodation quality and accessibility by air and rail. The figures from the Ambrosetti study do show, however, that Calabria has built a structural position over the past three years that is now genuinely competitive with Puglia and Sardinia in the southern Italian context. It is worth noting that for the team at Vivere in Italien, Calabria has long been a place of longing, and we spend our holidays there regularly, as we did last June at the Albatros Residence in Briatico.
