A record-breaking Easter weekend is expected, with millions of families ready to celebrate the anniversary outside the city despite the unknown weather conditions and price increases of 5-10%. “Despite the high prices weighing on family budgets, Italians will not give up the Easter weekend even if they will prefer closer destinations to be reached in a few hours by car or train, reducing the number of nights away from home to a maximum of two – says Marina Lalli, president of Federturismo Confindustria -. To amuse themselves and relax, they will spend their holidays especially in Italy with a predilection for the sea, the cities of art, the mountains and spa resorts, reserving abroad for a trip of a few more days during the next spring holidays ». According to Federturismo, the number of foreigners who will choose Italy will grow by 15% and according to Roberto Tomasi, CEO of Autostrade, 15 million motorists will travel. In an attempt to smooth traffic, about forty construction sites on the network controlled by the company will be removed. Crowd at airports. In Milan Bergamo, the low cost airport from which 138 destinations including the United Arab Emirates are reached, over 320 thousand passengers are expected to transit with a +15% over Easter 2019. There are 126 thousand passengers who will transit through the Palermo airport, +6 .5% on last year while in Catania there will be over 229 thousand transits with a marked increase (+15%) of international passengers. At the airports in Northern Sardinia (Alghero and Olbia), 420 round-trip flights from Italy and abroad are expected with a flow of around 60,000 passengers, while 230,000 transits are expected in Catania, surpassing the excellent performance of 2019.
Museums and farmhouses
Slopes open for ski enthusiasts who can indulge in the last descents of the season thanks to the lowering of temperatures at high altitudes, while those who stay in the city can visit exhibitions, museums and UNESCO sites open to the public. About 6 million Italians and foreign tourists will dine out at Easter in a restaurant or agritourism, to take advantage of the post-Covid return to full normality. It’s the first Easter without restrictions for the agritourisms of the Marche region, ready to welcome tourists during the summer, both outdoors and indoors. In the region there are 1,100 farmhouses with 18,423 seats and 12,675 beds. About 400 agritourism activities offer tastings of company products or, in any case, of the territory. In the hinterland of Turin, for example, sold out in the 146 agritourisms that offer 6,000 seats.
Between rivieras and cities of art
According to the analyzes of Federturismo Confindustria, Rome is the most popular destination among the classic European capitals such as Paris and Berlin. Also in Florence there will be a 15% increase in foreign visitors led by Germans and Americans and Milan, preferred by British and Americans, will see a 28% growth in foreign visitors. In Venice, with an employability of the structures currently exceeding 70%, domestic tourism will be predominant even if there will be a foreign component represented by the Germans, Austrians and French. “Self there are few Italians who have opted for a holiday abroad, as well as being economic – underlines President Lalli – the motivation must also be sought in the objective bureaucratic difficulties which in recent months have made it difficult to obtain passports, effectively preventing international travel . Thus, those destinations have benefited which, like Egypt with the Red Sea, requiring only an identity card at the entrance, will be sold out for Easter. The hope is that with the approach of summer we can finally resolve the passport chaos that has led to cancellations of reservations, postponements of trips and lost earnings for the whole world of organized tourism».