The key points
- 98.4% of companies invoice less than two million
- Sector with high potential
- Mangia: “Great interest from investment funds”
- The challenge: to recover after Covid, especially foreigners
- The leading role of cruise tourism
A tourist system in Sicily made up of more than 22,500 companies which is worth 7 percent of the national total but only 1.5% invoices more than two million euros and none exceeds 50 million euros in turnover. This is the picture of those active in the travel agencies and tour operators, accommodation and catering sectors in Sicily whose added value before the pandemic had exceeded 30 billion euros and 80 thousand employees. A framework designed by Prometeia and UniCredit and presented in Catania as part of the Economics Forum dedicated to the tourism sector, organized by UniCredit in collaboration with the South East Sicily Chamber of Commerce and Federalberghi Sicily. «We are committed – says Salvatore Malandrino, head of the Sicily Region of UniCredit – to provide support to the tourism sector and to the companies that play a leading role in it. In the coming weeks we will launch a “digital” B2B dedicated to the sector, which will see one-to-one meetings between 5 international buyers (tour operators) and our selected customers. The numbers testify, on the one hand, the enormous potential of the Sicilian tourism sector but, on the other, the need for new strategies to translate this potential into greater wealth for the area».
98.4% of companies invoice less than two million
One figure, among the many illustrated by Andrea Dossena of Prometeia, is this: Sicilian structured companies also develop only 16% of the regional sectoral turnover, against 22% of the Italian average and 20% in Puglia. And in more detail we see that 22,190 companies have an average turnover of up to two million euros, have a production value of 5.3 billion and have a cumulative 62,747 employees. Then there are 341 companies with an average turnover of between two and five million, a production value of 0.9 billion and 9,098 employees. And finally, only 8 companies have a turnover of more than five million a year, with a production value of 0.1 billion and 1,644 employees. In practice, 98.4 percent of the tourist entrepreneurial fabric is made up of companies that invoice less than two million a year and these companies guarantee 84.1% of the regional production value of the sector and 85.3% of the busy.
Sector with high potential
The other side of the coin is potential. According to UniCredit «Sicilian tourist potential is well expressed by other indicators relating to the characteristics of tourism on the island and its accommodation facilities. The Sicilian tourist system is characterized by a diversification that other Italian and European regions cannot boast: differentiation of the tourist offer and accommodation facilities, seasonality of flows that is not so marked, foreign presences (but with a duration of overnight stays and an average daily expenditure lower than those of other Italian regions). Indicators that can also translate into strategies aimed at increasing the turnover of the sector, for example by enhancing even more the contribution of cruises and foreign tourists in the spring and autumn months (following the example of the Balearic Islands), or a greater ability to promote of non-coastal territories (as occurs for example in Puglia)”.
Mangia: “Great interest from investment funds”
A point that is well summarized by Marcello Mangia, president of the Mangia’s Group: «Sicily – says Mangia – is at the center of the attention of investment funds due to the strong attention to the destination aroused by a convergence of some key factors. Finally investments aimed at the destination with the See Sicily campaign which has attracted, among other things, numerous film productions, and the promotion on a different guise from the usual clichés, we are seen as a fashionable destination and for both experiential and luxury tourism. (I find the recent criticisms of the previous regional government which supported the hotel sector during the covid unfair). Clear emergence of the destination Sicily as a territory reachable in less than two hours by plane from all over Europe and with hotels in sufficient number and at affordable prices. The fragility due to international factors and air transport in difficulty remains, which I believe is only temporary. The hospitality industry has amply demonstrated strong resilience at each event and I am confident for a very positive 2023 season.”
Speaking of See Sicily, the intervention of the regional councilor for Tourism, Elvira Amata, should be recorded, who provided some clarifications on the use of funds destined for the SeeSicily promotion plan, adopted starting from 2020, through a specific provision within of the Stability law, with which a financial allocation of 75 million euros was authorized for the advance purchase of tourist services from operators and professionals in the sector, hotel and non-hotel accommodation facilities, travel agencies and tour operators, to be conveyed for promotional purposes via cards and vouchers, in the months following the end of the pandemic health emergency. “The measures adopted by the Region to promote the Sicily brand and encourage the resumption of tourist activities and employment hard hit by the pandemic – says the ‘councillor – have achieved their goal, judging by the data provided by the Regional Tourist Observatory which show a constant increase in the number of visitors registered on the island, 120% more in just two years”.
In detail, according to the councilor, against a number of tourist presences equal to 6,622,498 in 2020, already in 2021 there were 9,689,173 presences, with an increase of almost 50%, «which attested the validity of the actions taken by the councilorship.
In addition, the data relating to attendance for 2022 confirms the positive growth trend, also by virtue of the additional actions defined, with a significant increase of 14.7 million admissions (51% more than the previous year).