Deceptive practices in tourism advertising: legal insights from Italy (1999–2019)

Marketing and advertising play a vital role in the tourism sector, as they can significantly influence the likelihood of transactions, provided the messages are honest and reliable, thereby maintaining consumer confidence. Despite anecdotal evidence pointing to frequent instances of deceptive marketing in the tourism industry, there is limited research on the legal prosecution of such practices. To address this gap, this paper analyses legal investigations into deceptive advertising in the Italian tourism industry between 1999 and 2019. Our main objective was to identify the factors (complainant's identity, advertiser size, media involved, and specific elements of deception) associated with the likelihood of deceptive practices. The findings indicate that the probability of deception is higher in cases involving direct advertising and price-related advertising. Several implications of the findings for consumers, tourism businesses, and regulatory agencies are highlighted.