The spending of foreign tourists in Italy will recover in 2021 together with that of Italians abroad but the flows are still half of those of 2019 the last pre-Covid year. According to the data released by the Bank of Italy, in fact, last year there was a surplus of the tourism balance equal to 0.5% of GDP, a marginal improvement compared to 2020; the surplus was 1% of GDP in 2019. Last year the expenditure of international travelers in Italy increased by about 25% compared to 2020, that of Italian travelers abroad by over 30%; “Both flows remain about half of those in 2019” let the Central Institute know. In the fourth quarter of 2021, according to the Istituto di via Nazionale, the expenditure of international travelers in Italy and that of Italian travelers abroad almost tripled compared to the same period of 2020. In comparison with the corresponding period of 2019, however, we note a decrease of 31.2% for inflows and 42.5% for outflows. Overall in 2021, again according to provisional data, there was a surplus of the tourism balance equal to 0.5% of GDP, a marginal improvement compared to 2020; the surplus was 1.0% of GDP in 2019. As regards last December, Italy’s tourist balance of payments recorded a surplus of 0.4 billion euros, from 0.1 billion in the same month of 2020 and 0.5 billion in December 2019, before the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the introduction of further restrictions on international travel due to the global spread of the Omicron variant, both the expenditure of foreign travelers in Italy (1.5 billion) and that of Italian travelers abroad (1.1 billion) were significantly higher than those of December 2020 (0.5 and 0.3 billion respectively).
Bankitalia data on tourism released today “confirm the slow path towards recovery started last year but today dramatically interrupted by the war that is also making its effects felt on the hotel tourism sector – says Maria Carmela Colaiacovo, president of the Italian Confindustria Association Hotels, which adds -. We are experiencing an almost total stop of bookings for the next few months. In particular with regard to international tourism. The drama of the conflict has also imposed a new blow to our sector. The gradual exit from the emergency with the road map for overcoming the anti-covid measures on which Minister Garavaglia is working is certainly important to reactivate at least local tourism. But it might not be enough. The combination of the weakness of the markets and the exponential growth of costs related to energy and raw materials, which also weighs heavily on the hotel sector, risks forcing the sector to a further halt that after two years of pandemic we cannot afford “, concludes the president.