(ANSA) - RONCHI DEI LEGIONARI (GORIZIA), MAR 7 - About 8,729,115 tourists visited Friuli Venezia Giulia in 2017, 433,819 more than the previous year, with a greater increase in those coming from foreign countries (up 7,0%) compared to an increase by 3.0% in tourists coming from Italy. Among foreigners, Austrians are in firts place (1,581,196, up 6.7%), followed by the Germans (1,173,740, up 7.3%) and Czechs (245.688, up 16.9%) and the biggest rise was recorded in tourists from Russia (up 18.9%). These figures describe tourism in Friuli Venezia Giulia in 2017, and they were presented at the FVG airport by the deputy president of the FVG Region Sergio Bolzonello, along with the dg of PromoTurismo FVG Marco Tullio Petrangelo and marketing director Bruno Bertero. ''In 2018 - Petrangelo announced - we are going to exceed 9 million, reaching 9.1-9.2 million overnight stays. The number of beds occupied by guests, in the different kinds of accommodation, in 2017 were 117,890. All nine areas of regional tourism, statistically merged into three macro-areas, have recorded an increase last year''. Tourism has grown everywhere: hotels, diffused hotels, tourist residences, b & b, rooms for rent, holiday farms, social facilities recorded an increase by 4.1% campsites and tourist resorts recorded a 9,8% increase.

With regard to the mountains (up 7.1%), the biggest rise was recorded in the Piancavallo and Dolomiti Friulane areas (up 15.6%), followed by Carnia (up 5.7%) and Tarvisiano-Sella Nevea-Passo Pramollo/Nassfeld (up 4.6%). In the historic city and sea group, a big rise was recorded in Grado, Aquileia and Palmanova (up 10.7%), whereas in the main seaside resorts the number of arrivals increased in Grado by 10.1% (up 11.4% in arrivals) and by 2.5% in Lignano (up 3.1% in arrivals). Within the macro-area of the cities (up 4.7%), Pordenone has recorded an increase by 9.9%, Udine by 8.2%, Trieste by 4.1% and Gorizia by 4.5%, but the latter figure is negative due to missing data from a big hotel. (ANSA).