Regional implications of the Italian inner areas strategy

The National Strategy for the Inner Areas is an Italian place-based policy aimed at revitalising the economic and social vibrancy of lagging municipalities facing remoteness by leveraging on tourism as a key instrument for local development. This paper evaluates the policy effects on tourism over the period 2014–22 through a difference-in-difference approach at the municipal level. Overall nights of stay have been positively affected by 6% since the subsides’ disbursement begun. Results are largely driven by geographical heterogeneity and marked by direct expenditure mechanisms, with prevailing effects on foreign tourism in northern regions and predominant effects on domestic tourism in the Mezzogiorno.