Tourism is restarting on a global scale and the effects reverberate (positively) also on the Italian tourism industry, which since last April has been experiencing strong growth both in seaside and mountain resorts, and in cities of art. In fact, and this is excellent news for our country, visitors come back from abroad, especially Americans, those who – to understand each other – on holiday tend to spend more. According to Confcommercio, between June and September the tourist spending of foreigners in Italy will reach 17 billion euros.
Spending by Americans
The values therefore return to pre-pandemic levels, explains the association, with a share of spending by American tourists of over 2.1 billion euros (+ 20% compared to 2019), thanks also to the favorable euro-dollar exchange rate. to the Americans. There will be approximately 4.4 million presences from overseas in tourist accommodation facilities between July and September and the numbers of European visitors are also positive, with arrivals from Spain recovering pre-Covid levels (about 1 million passengers on flights between June and September), while German tourism is only partially recovering which, however, records a 27% drop in air arrivals in July compared to 2019. Arrivals from Asia are also limited and the war between Russia and Ukraine is waging feel here too, with the elimination or almost zero of Russian tourism.
The resumption of air traffic
So there is a recovery, according to Confcommercio’s analysis, however foreign tourism in Italy depends heavily on air transport. The offer of flights to and from Italy is significantly increasing, so much so that in July the decrease compared to the same period of 2019 was reduced to 8.1%, a result better than the European average, which recorded a -13.5%, although below the surprising result of Greece, which instead increases its traffic by 6.3%.
Tourism is back, therefore, but it has changed its face. The pandemic and the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine are changing the behavior of travelers, explain from Confcommercio, increasing uncertainty in travel planning: air tickets, in fact, are booked increasingly close to departure, with a reduction in time between purchase and travel that passes on average from 79 to 61 days (for Americans from 103 to 80 days, while it is even more than halved for Japanese from 76 to 32 days). In any case, it is clear that a large part of the Italian tourist recovery, especially for this summer season, will depend on whether or not the inconveniences in air transport continue.
«The return, after three years, of foreign tourism, helps to consolidate our economic recovery – commented the president of Confcommercio, Carlo Sangalli -. The outlook, however, is uncertain due to the decrease in consumption, the unrest in air transport and the unknown pandemic. Therefore, support for the tourism sector must be among the priorities of the next executive in terms of combating expensive energy and reducing the tax burden ».