Tourism restarts after the sharp slowdown caused by the Covid pandemic. To confirm this trend are two data published in the last hours. The first concerns Italy, and in particular the flows of travelers in Italian airports; the second is more global (although even in this case there is no lack of specific information on the Peninsula), and takes its cue from the quarterly data of Airbnb, the online portal that connects people looking for accommodation or a room for short periods, with people who have extra space to rent, usually private.
Enac: air traffic quadruples in the first half of the year
Air transport “takes off”. As ENAC underlined in a note, between January and June 2022 the volume of passengers was 4 times that of the first six months of 2021. “We are not yet in pre-pandemic conditions – it has been clarified -, but the trend appears positive “notes the organization according to which” compared to last year, there is an increase in passengers transported by 314%. Movements have also more than doubled, ie the number of take-offs and landings at Italian airports. “
In the world, Airbnb bookings are booming, 100 million nights
The other thing to take into consideration is the boom in bookings on Airbnb. In a moment of very lively recovery in tourism both globally and in Italy and despite concerns about the economic slowdown and rising prices, the world of holiday homes and rental accommodation seems to have put the turbo into turbo, outstripping the pre results. Covid. «From April to June – explained the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb Brian Chesky publishing the quarterly data – we have exceeded 103 million nights and experiences booked, our highest quarterly number ever. We generated $ 2.1 billion in revenue, up 58% year-over-year. Our revenues in the second quarter have increased by more than 70% since the second quarter of 2019. Airbnb has 4 million hosts worldwide who have welcomed and made more than 1 billion guests feel at home ».
Unique accommodations are increasingly popular in Italy
Then there is a very Italian peculiarity: from the farms to the dammusi, from the trulli to the towers and castles (but also lighthouses, tree houses, farmhouses, Boat and Breakfasts and even tents) unique accommodations are increasingly popular. In the last two years alone, from 2019 to 2021, nights booked in this type of accommodation have increased by 50% globally. At the top of the ranking of the trendiest destinations according to this criterion is Lampedusa followed by Ceglie Messapica, Favignana, Pantelleria. Following in fifth place is Grosseto, then two more islands, Ponza and La Maddalena, and Martina Franca. Even the earnings of hosts who provide unique accommodations, according to Airbnb, were greater than those with more “classic” offers and in 2021 globally reached almost a billion dollars. The types of accommodation that generated the most earnings last year were: farmhouses more than 9.6 million dollars, mini houses more than 5.6, trulli more than 5.0, castles 1.3, dammusi more than 1, 1.