The role of branded “Made in Italy” Museums in revitalizing tourism: a quali-quantitative research

Throughout the years of the pandemic, the Italian tourism experienced a significant drop (-56.1%) in the number of foreign tourists (ISTAT, 2022). The typical rebound observed in the sector after periods of external crisis has been limited by the recent Russia-Ukraine conflict, with the direct consequence of a loss of >300,000 Ukrainian and Russian tourists (ISTAT, 2022), and the indirect effect on the decrease in individuals’ willingness to travel (-52,3%) at EU level in (Banca d’Italia, 2021). Among the typical recovery strategies in such contexts, researcher observed investments in infrastructures (Mandić et al., 2018), in repositioning the destination (Scott et al., 2018) and in valorizing specific micro- sites within each destination (Botiș et al., 2017). In a situation where different countries are competing on a shrank EU tourism market (-26%) over 2019 (UNWTO, 2022), patterns of distinctiveness should be explored by Italian destinations to increase tourists’ engagement and attractiveness. While Italy is recognized for its unique cultural offering and for Made in Italy, little attention has been dedicated to investigating features at the intersection between “cultural” and “shopping” tourism, two of the most relevant sources of tourism attraction in Italy. The aim of this research is then to investigate whether high-end fashion Made in Italy museums (HEFM) might improve the attitude toward different Italian destinations and, consequently, the potential absolute flow of tourists. The structured abstract highlights the direction of the research and propose the first preliminary findings, as basis for the development of the following part of the research.