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The premises were those of a record summer, the best ever. In the end, summer 2023 will be remembered as the one saved by foreign tourists. According to a survey by Assoturismo – Confesercenti, carried out by the Centro Studi Turistici of Florence, between June and August the drop in Italians was 5.7% while arrivals from across the border increased by 3.6%. At the end of the season, the balance of the key quarter of the tourist year will be -1.4% of overnight stays. In the dry language of numbers, the Cst estimates 50.5 million tourists registered in accommodation facilities for a total of 207 million overnight stays, three million less than in 2022. A slide compared to expectations and among the many contributing causes that have led many Italians to give up there are increases in mortgage payments, double-digit price increases brought about by the inflation of the shopping cart, expensive fuel, expensive hotel rooms without forgetting expensive flights and expensive restaurants. For his part, Lino Stoppani, president of Fipe-Confcommercio, recalls that between July 2021 and July 2023 the average inflation for the entire economy was 14% but in the restaurant business this figure stood at 11%. On the issue of inflated receipts, Stoppani points out that the choices of individual merchants must not cast doubt on the entire category.
Thus, the greatest drop in presences concerns seaside resorts (-3.2%), rural and hilly inland ones (-3.1%). In contrast, cities and art centers (+2.7%) while for lakes and mountains the estimates indicate substantial stability. The spa offer is also down. «There is no optimism for the month of September, even if the situation could improve – warns Vittorio Messina, president of Assoturismo Confesercenti -. We need to support the entire tourist economy chain, using the resources of the Pnrr to address the historical problems of our tourism, such as the infrastructure node, for example, and intervene to counteract and reduce the effects of climate change”.
Tourist flows
For origins from abroad, the markets that recorded significant growth are the French, Dutch, US and Polish. There was also a slight increase in arrivals from the Czech Republic, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Hungary, Spain and the United Kingdom. Stability for tourists from Brazil, Germany, Scandinavia, South Korea and Israel. Indians, Austrians, Chinese and Japanese are down, without forgetting «the absence of the Russian and Ukrainian markets since the beginning of the war» concludes the presidents of Assoturismo.
In this context, in order to try to respect the budget, the Italians scattered among the localities of France, Greece, Croatia and a minority went to the discovery of Albania, a debut destination in 2023. Spain, the traditional rival of the Belpaese on the markets Northern Europe, in July welcomed over 10 million foreign tourists with a +11.4% on 2022. Supported by arrivals from the United Kingdom, a market that is worth about a fifth of the total equal to over two million guests with a +7 %, followed by France, with 1.6 million (11% more), and Germany, with 1.1 million (4.8% more). Arrivals from Italy see a +26% and the favorite destinations are those of the Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Andalusia.