Rolli Days has a positive socioeconomic impact on the city of Genoa

In recent years, the Rolli Days, a leading event in the Genoese cultural scene, has also been confirmed at the national level as a positive example of promoting the UNESCO heritage of the city of Genoa. Until now, however, ananalysis of the impact of cultural activities on the city had never been carried out; therefore, a first socioeconomic impact analysis of the Rolli Days was introduced, with the aim of demonstrating how the benefits of investing in culture represent a fundamental result for the development of an area.

The focus of the evaluation concerns the investigation of direct economic impacts, resulting from the expenses incurred by the public, during the two editions of Rolli Days 2022. Specifically, interviews with visitors of both editions, with regard to Rolli Days in May showed that visitors from Genoa accounted for 63.8 percent of the total, while nonresidents reached 36.2 percent. The average age of the people who participated in the event turns out to be 49.23 years old, and almost all of them (97.25 percent) said they were satisfied and intended to repeat the experience.

The number of Genovese visitors (65.8 percent) to the October edition rises slightly and, at the same time, the number of tourists (34.2 percent) declines; a couple of percentage points higher also for the average age (51.14 years) while the percentage of satisfaction (97.15 percent) remains almost unchanged.

Economically, the average per capita expenditure of the May 2022 edition was 19.48 euros, with a total expenditure of 242,652 euros, for residents and 82.96 euros per head, and a total expenditure of 599,207 euros, for tourists, with a direct economic impact on the city of a total of 841,860 euros.

On the other hand, the induced impact of the Rolli Days in October 2022 amounted to 745,754 euros, broken down as follows: the average expenditure of residents turns out to be 19.55 euros, with a total of 260,206 euros, while that of tourists comes to 70.17 euros per capita, with a total of 485,548 euros. The total calculation of the two 2022 editions thus turns out to be 1,587,614 euros.

The data collected on the direct economic impacts of the event highlight the strategic importance of the city administration’s investment in culture, but also provide a basis for future studies on the evaluation of the city’s cultural events. An element, the latter, that is increasingly relevant within sector studies aimed at observing the effects of activities to enhance tangible and intangible heritage on the territory, inhabitants and tourists: contrary to the commonplace that considers cultural assets unproductive, supporting quality events in fact allows maximizing spending on activities useful for increasing the impact for territories and society.

The Rolli Days spring 2023 event, which took place from April 28 to May 1, sold out of booked visits and a significant increase in tourist attendance, whose percentage rose to 41 percent of the total.

The data presented were collected on a significant sample of visitors who were given a questionnaire evaluating the event during the two editions in 2022. The study is the result of research conducted by Pietro Toso for his master’s thesis in historical and artistic heritage at the University of Macerata.

Image: Garden of Palazzo Nicolosio Lomellino. Photo by Municipality of Genoa

Rolli Days has a positive socioeconomic impact on the city of Genoa

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