Nothing will ever be the same again: tourism is emerging transfigured by the Covid crisis, also because (it is a paradox) some of the strengths of the sector in pre-pandemic Italy proved to be Achilles’ heels when the virus broke out. msso to rage. “Rethinking tourism”, a report published by the communication and marketing agency I SAY in Rome, notes that “after almost ten years of uninterrupted growth, travel & tourism has found itself facing the most serious crisis ever. The impact of Covid-19 on the sector was 11 times that of the 2008 economic-financial crisis ».
An event of this type meant, for some European tourist models, facing some contradictions that were already undermining its stability in the long term. In the case of Italy, the excessive dependence on foreign tourism – certified by the “overtaking” of 2017, when foreign presences exceeded those of residents, and on the spot it seemed like a happy event – translated into a hard blow for the cities of art, almost deserted in the first summer after the lockdowns.
The launch of mass vaccination campaigns and the rapid adoption of the green pass have made it possible to restart, at least partially, the tourism industry. Although international travel has not yet returned to pre-Covid levels – and it is unlikely that this goal will be reached in the short term – it is possible to identify a recovery as regards national and European travel.
The pandemic has profoundly changed the preferences and habits of Italians, who have rediscovered the pleasure of spending their holidays in the beautiful country: more than 90%, in 2020 and also in 2021, chose Italy as their holiday destination. A holiday that has four well-defined characteristics: safe, flexible, sustainable, proximity. Aspects that highlight how a radical psychological change has occurred in the approach to holidays, and this change has some characteristics that may surprise: “The pre-Covid tourist was hyper-connected – says the I SAY report – and suffered from anxiety social characterized by the desire to always stay in touch with rewarding social contexts to share. In the post-Covid tourist, on the other hand, the desire to disconnect and the desire to rediscover intimate places grows: a less spectacular and more authentic journey ».
Another trend also emerges and consolidates: in planning, the holiday is increasingly digital. Digitization joins an element that changes the “rules of the game” for hosts as well as customers: the end of the OTA monopoly. «The collapse of the turnover for platforms such as Expedia and Booking went hand in hand with a strong recovery in direct bookings through proprietary sites of the accommodation facilities. Therefore the report says – the disintermediation of supply and demand will be a fundamental element for a winning digital strategy in the tourism sector ».