In the last pre-Covid year, one million arrivals in the Marca. Chamber of Commerce: “Now they will be half if it goes well”
TREVISO. The one million tourists who arrived in the Marca in 2019 is the memory of a world that no longer exists, and if last year the arrivals fell by 65 percent, this year the tourism bodies would be happy if the loss were “only “Of 50.
Covid effect and recovery still far away as regards tourism, a business that for the province of Treviso is worth 1.3 billion euros according to the calculations of the Chamber of Commerce. A business managed by a galaxy of entities and acronyms that will now restart – thanks also to the reopening of the Canova airport – but which will only be able to count on a few months of flows, after a nightmare start to the year and a still uncertain low-season ending.
The numbers
The last pre-Covid year, the last with total freedom to travel, was 2019. And our province had closed it with record figures, recording the best results ever: over one million arrivals (the total of people who have stayed at least one night in the hotels of the Marca) and 2.22 million presences (the total number of nights spent). Turnover estimated at 1.3 billion euros, considering all the related activities ranging from transport to hospitality, catering and shops. A treasure squandered in 2020, a problem to which at least five different acronyms are now trying to solve, from the Marca Treviso Consortium to the Unesco Association, passing through Ogd and Ipa.
The goals
The hills of Conegliano Valdobbiadene were named a Unesco World Heritage Site in July 2019. Bad timing: the summer that should have baptized its take-off, that of 2020, coincided with the blackest year in the world of tourism. Yet the UNESCO recognition has already made itself felt: the Pedemontana area is the one that recorded the best numbers in the year of the pandemic, and the only one that at this moment has reservations for the summer months.
The prospects
“Everything will depend on how the vaccination campaign goes and how foreigners receive the opportunity to stay in Italy” comments Mario Pozza, president of the Treviso and Belluno Chamber of Commerce. «The impression is that for now they are quite dubious: the Green pass is not clear how it works, the limits for catering and the curfew are felt. However, there was a slight recovery compared to 2020, the goal this year would be to recover at least 50 percent of the flows we had in the pre-Covid era “. Unesco hills aside, some encouraging signs come from the cities of art: «Over the weekend we went back to see many people in the capital, even from abroad, especially Austrians. We don’t have much time, the tourist season is short, the months in which we could recover something will last until September ».