UDINE. An important signal. For the sector, for the economic recovery and for the entire region. The summer tourist season, in fact, is preparing to close – in anticipation of September – with very positive numbers and, in many ways, close to those of 2019, i.e. the last pre-pandemic year.
The sea and the mountains are doing well, but also the cities without forgetting, among other things, a recovery of the foreign market and, in particular, of the Austrian one which, according to the PromoTurismoFvg figures, has produced an increasing trend even compared to two years ago with, therefore, a record figure when compared to the immediately pre-Covid era.
In general, from an initial analysis of the data available to the Tourism Department, the months of June, July and August (in this case the numbers refer to the first fortnight) have marked a substantial return to the levels of 2019 with the recovery of 83% of overnights and 93% if we refer only to the current month.
Comparing, instead, the summer of 2021 with that of last year, the increase in tourist presences is around 75% with a growth of the Italians – + 2.6% -, but also of the citizens of Friuli Venezia Giulia who have produced over 86 thousand more people (up by 29.3%) of which 3 thousand 800 used the TuRestaFvg voucher designed by the junta to stimulate residents to spend their holidays in the region.
And if the bathing establishments sold out between July and August, the prospects appear to be positive also for September – at least until the middle of the month – with the places that have marked the best recovery represented by Piancavallo, together with the territory of the Dolomites. Friuli, Lignano Sabbiadoro, Trieste and Grado. Indeed, in the Golden Island – with the exception of the count referring to campsites and tourist villages – a seasonal recovery rate close to 100% is also calculated.
According to the Austrians, therefore, as regards foreign customers, there were also partial returns of citizens from Hungary, Slovakia, Poland and the Netherlands, but – above all due to the uncertainty linked to travel outside their country in those weeks – there is no a non-secondary part of the international attendance is still on appeal, which in the two-month period June-July 2021 stood at almost -40% compared to the same period two years earlier.
Moving on to the occupancy rates of the hotels, therefore, these were very high on weekends and patchy on midweek days, unlike the apartments – usually rented for at least a week – which for the period July-August recorded the sold out.
Very interesting, therefore, is also the analysis of the trend of the season in the mountains, another area where, as mentioned, the summer was definitely a harbinger of good news. In the Sauris network, for example, the accommodation facilities are fully booked until mid-September – like the one that refers to Forni di Sopra – and as of June 30th there was already a 30% increase in turnover.
Furthermore, thumbs up also on the Zoncolan, while in the parts of the Consorzio del Tarvisiano, after a June and a July in line with past seasons, August brought numbers close to sold out. Sold out which, among other things, materialized from mid-July onwards in Sappada with positive projections until mid-September.
Finally, the Dolomite locality is also the one that has driven the positive figure of the ski lifts with an increase, compared to 2020, of 91% of presences within a panorama, however, in which the psychological effect of the accident in Stresa and, above all, a series of weekends marked by bad weather.
Despite this, however, the data, updated to the third week of August, say that overall the first entries on the regional plants increased by 1.6% compared to 2020, dragged, in fact, by the performance of Sappada and those of Piancavallo ( + 22%) and Forni di Sopra (+ 4.4%).
- LIGNANO RIVIERA – “Fabulous season, the crowd has seen again”
“The tourist season has been fabulous, for the first time in many years we have seen the crowd of the good old days again – says Renzo Pozzo, president of the Società Imprese Lignano spa, which has a concession for the stretch of beach of Lignano Riviera, manages the starred camping Pino Mare and the thermal park -. The turnout on the beach was good, but the reservations at the campsite went even better.
The presences in the bathing establishments and in the thermal park depend a lot on the weather, the Pino Mare is sold-out until 19 September. In any case, most of the umbrellas are sold throughout August. For the most part – continues Pozzo – the customers are Italian, but many are also Germans, Austrians and Slovaks. If you continue like this, Lignano will soon come back to life ».
- LIGNANO PINETA – “The major events are missing”
«The season has been positive and we are starting again gradually, even if unfortunately there were no major events and there was difficulty in finding staff.
Despite this, both the hotel and the beach, but also the docks, have registered a good influx of tourists – says Giorgio Ardito, president of Lignano Pineta spa, which has a concession on a stretch of beach, manages Marina Uno and also the hotel President -. Unlike last season, this year the foreigners arrived in Lignano immediately: in addition to the numerous Italian owners of second homes, many arrived from France, Belgium, Switzerland and Hungary. Probably – assumes Ardito – we are perceived as a safe destination from a sanitary and epidemiological point of view ».
- GRANDE ALBERGO MARIN – “Reservations are still coming”
“The season is going very well, we are satisfied: compared to last year, which we had to open on June 24 instead of at the end of May, we had many more appearances”. The success of the 2021 bathing season is told by Augusto Marin, owner with his family of the most historic accommodation facility in Lignano: the Grande hotel Marin located on the stretch of the seafront of Sabbiadoro with the same name.
«The turnout has increased since mid-June and in August there was an exceptional peak – continues Marin – and reservations continue: until 12 September for the moment and we will close on the 19th. Most of the loyal customers, the About 85% comes from Austria, but we also got it from Hungary, England, USA, Canada, France and Poland ».
- TARVISIO – “July and August very well”
“Despite the concerns of the beginning of the season, the summer went very well both in July, in which we were able to host the football teams that choose our location for the retreat in preparation for the competitive season, and in August with the absolute worn out.
Surely, from the second ten days of September we will see a drastic drop in attendance, as usual, however we can say that we are fully satisfied with how the summer season went, conditioned, also in this 2021, by the epidemiological situation “.
These are the words of Alfredo Baron, owner of the Spartiacque hotel in Tarvisio, who complains only of a drop in attendance in the restaurant attached to the accommodation facility. «The regret remains – Baron comments – of how the last winter season went, the losses of which we will never be able to recover».
- FORNI DI SOPRA – “TuResta ok, now even in winter”
«The summer season is going very well, in the wake of the past – declares Maurizio Ferigo, owner of the Edelweiss hotel in Forni di Sopra. – Many regional people who had rediscovered our territory this year are back and more numerous. Certainly thanks also to the guided “excursions” proposal, much richer than in the past.
Hospitality is gastronomy as well as taste weekends and festivals linked to typical flavors, with local products, are another reason to come and spend pleasant moments at the foot of the Friulian Dolomites ». According to Ferigo, the TuResta voucher put in place by the Region proved to be the winner: “It was an effective incentive to convey and enhance tourism – he says – we hope it can be extended to the winter season”.
- SAPPADA – “Exceeded expectations”
«We were prepared for a second summer season conditioned by Covid, but fortunately the tourist trend has exceeded the expectations of attendance.
In line with summer 2020, July started gradually to make us sell out in the second part of the month – declares Gianluigi Fontana of the homonymous hotel -. At the beginning of August we were worried about the limitations of the Green pass, but it did not penalize us. It has been a month that has made local tourism breathe a sigh of relief: excellent prospects for September with the first week full as well as the weekends to follow ».
The commercial activities of Sappada also recorded a stable trend and, in some cases, positive compared to 2020. Restaurants have been penalized for the obligation of the Green pass, with temperatures that do not allow dining out. –
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