A flat trend and so Italian tourism in 2023 lacks connection with the values of 2019. Overall, 52.1 million trips were made with 323.6 million overnight stays, numbers more or less in line with those of 2022 but far from from the reference numbers. The decline is 27% for travel and 21% for overnight stays. It doesn’t get any better when scrolling through the data on trips abroad which see a -35.6% on 2019 while those in Italy still show a -24% after the strong recovery in travel seen in 2022, the year of revenge tourism after the pandemic . Holidays with more than 4 nights, the so-called “long holidays”, were 28.5 million (-19% compared to 2019) while “short” ones, lasting less than 4 nights, must recover almost a third. In other words, 75 million overnight stays are missing, almost 20%. Then there is the chapter of trips out of town, day excursions. Families organized 42.4 million of them, mainly in spring, another stable value compared to 2022. This is what the Istat report “Travel and holidays in Italy and abroad – Year 2023” finds.
The Institute’s findings highlight a worrying fact: the share of Italians who took at least one trip in a quarter is decreasing: it went from 19.4% in 2022 to 18.7% in 2023 but in 2019 it had reached to 24.2% in 2019. It is the cumulative effect of inflation, high energy prices, the loss of purchasing power and the price increases of hotels and restaurants which did not allow families to treat themselves to another break or a few days of vacation more.
The confirmation comes indirectly by checking the data for summer holidays, those in the high season when prices are at their highest. In the third quarter there was a decline in holidays of more than 4 days, with -12% of trips and -13.4% of overnight stays, while between 2021 and 2022 there was a real boom. In the period there were 18.4 million holidaymakers (-13%), a transversal phenomenon that affects all age groups and regions of residence. The picture worsens when compared with 2019: the drop in departures is almost a fifth. There is no shortage of slightly positive data because the average length of the holiday is in line with that of summer 2022 but one in two lasts less than a week.
I head to head
Compared to the past there has been a head-to-head between the classic destinations chosen for seaside holidays and the cities of art and villages. Holidays in the mountains and countryside were stable with a share of 25.4% and 14.3% of the total. 2023 was the year of the affirmation of holidays with a cultural connotation, discovering museums, shows, food and wine. Also in this case the comparison with 2019 highlights a gap of 39%. As regards the conquest of the crown of the most chosen destination, Tuscany asserts itself, followed by Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Veneto, Lazio, Campania and Trentino-Alto Adige.
The top step of the podium as the favorite nation for a trip abroad goes to Spain, ahead of France and Germany. Among medium-long range destinations, Egypt with its resorts on the Red Sea wins 4.3% of preferences, followed by the USA and Morocco.
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2024-04-12 01:23:34