Travel Experience 2022: The Italian and International Economic Scenario for Tourism

10-10-22

59 editions, a remarkable goal for the event (calling it a fair is an understatement), the most important B2B of the tourism sector that will be staged in Rimini, from 12 to 14 October, which includes also other two events, SUNExpo and SIAexpo.

"A recovery in tourism is evident, despite the not very encouraging global conditions - says Gloria Armiri, Group Brand Manager Tourism & Hospitality Division #TTGexpo #SIAexpo #SUNexpo at Italian exhibition group - The latest data released by the World Tourism Barometer, of UNWTO tell us that in the first seven months of 2022, international tourist arrivals have almost tripled (+ 172% ) compared to 2021, which means that the sector has recovered almost 60% of its pre-pandemic levels. A constant recovery of the strong demand for two years and more "unanswered" for international travel, were aided by the relaxation or abolition of travel restrictions to date."

The trend detected by the WTO is also reflected on the Italian territory. Analyzing the data relating to the presence of guests in the hotel hospitality system, during the first half of 2022 it is possible to note the growth in attendance after the severe decline of the previous two years, caused by closures due to pandemics. However, this is a partial recovery, mainly due to an increase in domestic tourism (+ 7.1%), while on the front of international arrivals there is still a decline of 10.4%. Overall, the figure referring to 2022 is therefore 2.7% lower than the levels of 2019: in fact, although the arrivals of foreigners in the first half of the year more than tripled compared to 2021, they remain 36% lower than in 2019.

As regards the summer of 2022, the provisional data show a + 16.6% of arrivals and a + 14.3% of overnight stays: a rather satisfactory result in light of the situation of uncertainty caused by the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the increase generalized prices, which reduced the spending capacity of many tourists. In particular, as regards foreign tourists, there was an increase of 25.7% (even if the same figure is still 28.3% lower than in 2019).

Germans, French, Dutch, Swiss, Austrians, British, Belgians, Americans, Spaniards and Scandinavians have chosen Italy this summer, while the regions that showed the best performances were Sardinia, Sicily, Campania. and Liguria; the others are still far from 2019 level.

The choice of holiday resorts in the summer of 2022 saw a prevalence of seaside resorts, with a strong recovery in hotel bookings especially in August (+ 71.2%) followed by mountain venues (+ 61.9%). The Art Cities, especially in July and August, are recovering after the abrupt halt in 2002-2021. (+ 34% of hotel bookings).

The hospitality industry

Hotel facilities in Italy at the end of 2021 were a total of 32,109, or 5.3% less than 10 years earlier: a reduction that mainly concerned lesser value hotels. The closures mainly affected 1-star hotels (-33.6%) which at the end of 2021 amounted to 2,398 units, followed by 2-star hotels (5,110 - 23.2%) while slight (-1.4%) is was the decline in the 3-star category which is confirmed as the most numerous with 17,783 hotels throughout the country. On the contrary, 5-star (+ 56.9% for a total of 601 units) and 4-star hotels (+ 19% and 6,217 units) increased; overall in Italy the offer of rooms is 1,075,592 units and 2,232,676 beds.

A phenomenon that should not be underestimated is the progressive growth of the alternative offer to hotels, represented by private accommodation, for rent on various web platforms: in the period June-August 2022, for example, overnight stays on Airbnb were 3.5 million in more than the same period in 2021 (+ 32%).

In the first quarter of 2022, in terms of turnover, tourist accommodation and catering services showed an increase of 109.2% over the corresponding period of 2021, while as regards employment, the hospitality and public businesses sector could count on 1,000 .716 employees (the only accommodation 204.110 employees). In this regard, it is interesting to underline that, particularly at the end of the pandemic, a growing number of companies report severe difficulties in finding personnel.

Sources: Federalberghi - Assoturismo Confesercenti - Unioncamere - ISNART