Milan is increasingly defined by tourists, events, nightlife and outdoor dining, with the city collecting €138 million from these activities in 2025.
The figure includes €114 million from the tourist tax, more than €4 million from renting public spaces for events and around €20 million from outdoor terraces, awnings and dining areas.
For comparison, fines collected by the city in the same year brought in €145 million — a similar amount that highlights the growing economic value of Milan’s transformation over the past decade.
Tourism is also generating measurable resources for public services. Of the €114 million raised through the tourist tax last year, €62 million was allocated to the city’s cultural budget and €50 million to public transport.
Milan’s evolution from an industrial, financial and fashion capital into a major tourist and events destination began before the pandemic, with Expo 2015 acting as an important catalyst. Covid-19 temporarily interrupted the trend, but the transformation quickly resumed.
Revenue from the tourist tax rose from €41.4 million in 2016 to €59.1 million in 2019. After the pandemic, it climbed to €64 million in 2023, €80.6 million in 2024 and €114.1 million in 2025.
That means tourism is now generating almost three times as much revenue for the city as it did a decade ago.
The increase is not simply the result of more visitors. Milan welcomed 8.5 million tourists in 2023, nine million in 2024 and 9.6 million last year, but higher tax rates have played a major role in the rise in revenue.
The city increased the tourist tax for short-term rentals from €3 to €4.50 before raising it again in 2025 to €6.30. Rates for four- and five-star hotels increased from €5 to €7.
The change reflects a broader shift in Milan’s economy: once tourism became large and stable enough, the city began to generate significantly more revenue from it.
With the Winter Olympics held in Milan and Cortina in 2026, the city could pass the symbolic threshold of 10 million visitors this year.
The rise of outdoor Milan
The most visible change, however, can be seen on the streets.
Outdoor spaces occupied by bars, restaurants and other venues have expanded dramatically. Before the pandemic, Milan had around 3,790 permits covering almost 78,000 square metres and generating roughly €11 million in annual revenue.
By July 2026, the number of permits had nearly doubled to 8,000, while the area occupied had more than doubled.
Large parts of pavements, streets and squares have effectively changed function. Spaces once used mainly for movement have increasingly become places for dining, entertainment and socialising on public land.
For Milan, that transformation comes with a financial return of around €20 million a year — another sign that tourism, events and outdoor life are no longer peripheral to the city’s economy, but increasingly central to it.
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