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%).
