Claudia Pontini prepares her suitcase for the holidays and carries her passport in her bag, for the first time on her August trips. She is not sure if she needs it, but she prefers to take it with her when she travels abroad. She will travel to Saranda, Albania. “There I have the sea, culture, good gastronomy, leisure and everything I’m looking for, but at a much lower price than it would cost me to stay in Italy,” explains this 37-year-old Roman architect who had always spent her summers between Apulia, Sardinia and Sicily. Like her, fewer and fewer Italians stay on vacation in Italy. Tourism in the transalpine country is too expensive for them. It is a trend that has begun to register this summer. The increase in the prices of transport, accommodation and restaurants and the loss of purchasing power due to inflation are modifying vacation habits and are changing the map of the main tourist destinations of Italians, who are opting for cheaper options in the abroad such as Spain, Tunisia, Egypt or Albania, to the surprise of national hoteliers and restaurateurs, who did not count on it.
In recent months, the forecasts for the tourism sector spoke of 2023 as the first year in which the number of visits and the volume of business would exceed the levels prior to the coronavirus pandemic. However, at least so far, this is not the case. The Italian professional tourism associations have begun to make numbers. Their estimates point, on average, to a reduction of between 20% and 25% in reserves. Although July, as explained by the Minister of Tourism, Daniela Santanchè, “far exceeded expectations, with figures above those of 2019”, August is worrying about its significant drop, in some cases of 30-33% according to the platform of marketing of Sojern travel, and precisely in the area that in other times promoted the sector: the South.
Federturismo, which brings together category associations, recognizes that foreign tourist arrivals are increasing (+4%), but they cannot fully offset the drop in Italians, so the balance is around 800,000 fewer visits this month compared to to August of last year.
And that the year had started well, as Confcommercio, the Italian General Confederation of companies, recalls, with 15% more visits in the first five months. “The negative data comes from the national market,” explained Bernabò Bocca, president of Federalberghi, the association of businessmen in the tourism-hotel sector, who also stressed that “the international market is doing well.”
Several experts in the sector agree on this explanation and consider that the lower than expected figures are mainly due to a strong and unexpected drop in national tourism. Although it is too early to obtain global figures and at the moment there are only partial estimates and data, they all point in the same direction.
In July, the Tuscany Regional Institute for Economic Planning estimated that in the first three months of 2023, Tuscan tourists visiting places in Tuscany fell by 9% compared to 2019, the last year before the pandemic. In northern Sardinia, trade associations point to a 20% reduction in reservations made by Italian tourists for July and August of this year. The newspaper La Repubblica has counted the departures from Bari airport, the largest in Apulia, one of the great holiday destinations in Italy and has recorded that in July, departures to Albania, a coastal country where the tourism sector is booming and the cost of living is significantly lower than in Italy, they increased by 58% compared to the same month in 2022.
The phenomenon is so evident that the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, published a controversial meme on their networks in which he compared the large number of Italian tourists who have decided to vacation in Albania this year with the huge flow of migrants who arrived in Italy from Albania by sea in the early 1990s.
Pontini is one of the thousands of Italians who will spend their holidays in Albania. “I started looking for destinations in Italy with accommodation for my partner and my son in January, I couldn’t find anything for less than 1,700 euros a week on the beach, without any food included. If I add travel, meals and other extras, it would far exceed our budget. In Albania I will spend much less than half, ”she explains.
Inflation impact
It is still premature to establish the causes of the exodus of Italian tourists, but from Federturismo they point out that the increase in inflation has diminished the purchasing power of Italians and has forced companies to review their rates upwards. Prices have risen a lot, a study by the Demoskopika research institute has estimated the increase at 9% compared to 2022. The costs of transport, of the packages sold by agencies and of accommodation, have increased more sharply than in countries southern Europe closely linked to tourism, such as Greece and Spain. A study by the consulting firm STR indicates that Italy registers one of the highest increases in Europe in the daily cost of hotel accommodation (+12.3% compared to 2022).
The price of the beaches has also increased considerably. In Italy most are private and you have to pay to rent sunbeds and umbrellas, which can be around 30 euros per person depending on the place. The association for the defense of consumers Codacons has calculated that the rental of umbrellas and sun loungers has risen on average between 10% and 15% throughout the country.
Inflation has undoubtedly reduced the purchasing power of Italians, who, according to different market studies, have tried to save money by cutting back on their vacations. According to The report FragilItaly of Legacoop and Ipsos, 52% of respondents say they are considering saving money on travel due to the rising cost of living. A recent YouTrend survey indicates that 10% fewer Italians will go on vacation compared to summer 2021.
However, foreign tourist arrivals in Italy are on the rise. The transalpine country continues to be one of the preferred destinations for Americans, Scandinavians, Dutch and Poles, who this year have set records for arrivals from those origins.
Federturismo acknowledges that 2023 is testing the entire Italian tourism sector, but trusts in the potential of the transalpine country to overcome this weak season. “We are facing a series of challenges, such as climate change and inflation, which are changing the face of tourism. Despite everything, we trust our ability to adapt and resist. Italy continues to be an incomparable tourist destination”, they have pointed out.
Follow all the information of Economy and Business in Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter
Five Days agenda
The most important economic appointments of the day, with the keys and the context to understand their scope.
RECEIVE IT IN YOUR MAIL
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
#Italians #stay #Italy #vacation