A discount card for tourists in Rome, costing 18 and valid for three days, will go on sale from 21 February. The card is valid for all public transport, for entry into two city museums and for discounts on various cultural events. Details about the card will be available at tourist information points around the city centre. Some of the city most important museums are the Capitoline Museums and its overflow at the Montemartini site on Via Ostiense, the Museo di Rome and the city contemporary art collection MACRO. Apart from the Capitoline collection none of them is major tourist attraction.

The aim of the citys mayor, Walter Veltroni, is to boost the numbers of tourists coming to the city from close to a 17 million to 20 million a year in five years time. In 2003-2004 tourism, which is still one of the citys main service industries, increased by 6.1 per cent in Rome while it fell by 6.4 per cent in the rest of the country.