Tourism In Florence- Is A learning Experience- Sandeep Marwah

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the Metropolitan City of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 382,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1,520,000 in the metropolitan area. Florence was a center of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time. It is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called “the Athens of the Middle Ages “Florence has approximately 35,000 hotel beds and 23,000 other accommodation facilities (campsites, guesthouses, youth hostels and farmhouses), giving potential for overall stays to exceed 10 million visitor/nights a year. Visitors also include thousands of day-trippers brought in by cruise ships and by road and rail. “It is not only tourism but it is a learning experience to be in Florence. The attraction for tourist is beyond expectations. I feel, we at India, must learn from these centers as how we have to attract foreign tourist to India” said Sandeep Marwah Managing Director of National Federation of Tourism And Transport Cooperatives of India Limited at Hotel Savoy at Florence. In 2007, the city ranked as the world’s 59th most visited city, with over 1.729 million arrivals for the year. It has been estimated that just under one-third of tourists are Italians, the remainder comprising Americans (20%), Germans (13%), Japanese (8%), Britons (7.8%), French (5.7%) and Spaniards (5%).