Italian tourism continues to grow. AND after starting 2024 with a positive sign, during the first 5 months of the year, attendance at accommodation structures increased by +3.8%, summer forecasts are also positive: between June and August, 216 million visitors are expected in official accommodation establishments, with an increase of +1.5% compared to last summer. Once again, foreign tourists are at the wheel (105 million visitors with a jump of +2.5%), while Italian demand should remain stable (at 110.9 million +0.5%). This is the photograph taken bysurvey by the Center for Tourist Studies of Florence for Assoturismo Confesercenti.
The different dynamism of the two markets should lead to a further reduction in the share of Italians which is estimated at 51.4%, compared to 48.6% of foreign demand (the 2023 values were respectively 51.8% and 48. 2%). For tourism from abroad, confirmation of the main traditional markets emerges from reservation requests, with more significant increases for German, French, Swiss, Dutch, Polish, Austrian, Belgian, British and Brazilian flows.
Among non-European markets, increases were recorded mainly in the American market. A stable trend was reported for the Canadian and Scandinavian markets, while demands from the Chinese, Japanese, Indian and Spanish markets showed a slight decline.
The strongest growth will be recorded by the structures of cities and art centers (+2%), followed by the seaside offer (+1.4%), lakes and spas (both +1.1%) and finally mountain areas (+0.4%). ). Some differences in performance are also expected for the macro-zones of the country with a slightly higher estimate for the North West and South/Islands regions, of +1.9% and +2% respectively. For the Central regions, the estimated variation is +1.3% and +1.1% for the North-East.
All this, of course, without taking into account possible weather developments, which have an increasing impact – thanks to climate change – on travelers' choices. In fact, 24% of entrepreneurs report a greater demand for the supply of air conditioning systems, an interest in the seasonalization of holidays, requests for booking flexibility in cases where customers wish to cancel due to heatwaves, risk of flooding, exceptional weather events, fires.
