ROME, Sept 5 (Reuters) - Tourists in Italy spent around 1 billion euros less this summer than in 2013, as a long economic slump sapped Italians' disposable incomes and bad weather kept people away from the seaside, the country's main tourist body said on Friday.
The report by the association representing Italian bar and restaurant owners (Fipe) is a blow to hopes of an economic recovery in the third quarter after the euro zone's third-largest economy shrank in the first half of the year.
A 2.1 percent annual drop in domestic tourism this summer outweighed a 0.3 percent increase in foreign visitors, Fipe said, adding that Italian tourists spent an average of 90 euros per day, down from 92 euros in the summer of 2013.
Italy, which is mired in its third recession in the last six years, is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations but the long economic downturn has taken a toll on domestic tourism.
Some 38.2 percent of Italians holidayed away from home in the summer months this year, down from 48.2 percent in 2008, Fipe said.
Seaside destinations were particularly hard hit this year due to unseasonally cool and rainy weather in the first half of the summer, while tourism to Italy's historic cities like Rome and Florence showed an annual increase. (Reporting by Massimiliano Di Giorgio; writing by Gavin Jones; editing by Andrew Roche)
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