Tourism numbers rose for bookings of foreigners to Italy during the Easter holiday this year, confirming what was forecast the previous year.
As stated by ENIT (the Italian Government Tourist Board), which does periodic monitoring of its data, 69.2% of foreign tour operators reported an increase in sale trends for destination Italy during Easter 2018 compared to the same period last year.
As for the entire spring season, the estimated growth in sales of destination Italy is increasing year-on-year to 80% according to some tour operators.
This data emerged from ENIT’s monitoring, which involved a sample of 127 tour operators – 76 European and 51 overseas – in 21 foreign markets, relating to this year’s Easter holiday period.
“From the survey conducted through its network of offices abroad,” said Giovanni Bastianelli, ENIT’s Executive Director, “this shows that tourism in 2018, in the wake of last year, is experiencing a period of momentum both in Italy and in the rest of Europe.
“On the increase [are] packages that combine various types of accommodation in the same holiday (hotels and train-hotels, for example) and combine ‘classic’ circuits to less traditional routes. Food and wine tourism, religious tourism, and cruises [are also driving] growth, but good results also [are coming] from the less[er] known and [lesser] crowded, so-called ‘off the beaten track’ [destinations].”
Forecasts for the entire spring season show an increase in sales of the Italian product for 82.9% of European operators; while at the all-European level, the forecasts are optimistic for 76.1%. In the report, some countries stand out showing flows to Italy grew better, and include Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Brazil. In these countries, 100% of the tour operators contacted agreed on the increased Italy sales for Easter and spring time.
This tourism number monitoring supports the data collected by ENIT on the basis of the various statistics on Italy as a tourist destination in 2017. Italy, in fact, ranked fifth overall for international tourist arrivals after France, the USA, Spain, and China, growing by almost 10% in the period January-October compared to 2016 (source UNWTO). Last year, the number of foreign airline passengers to Italy recorded a 3.7% increase compared to 2016 (source: Amadeus Intelligence).
Data on foreign spending is even more optimistic, rising 7.2% on 2016, amounting to 39 billion euros (source: Bankitalia). Analyzing the expense of foreigners, on the podium we find our classic basins of origin, namely: Germany (+7.5% on 2016), the United States (+2.5%), and France (9.5%).
The figure for tourist spending in the individual regions includes Lazio (+17.3% on 2016), Lombardia (in line with 2016), Veneto (+5.7%), Toscana (-0.9%), and Campania (+14.9%) as favorite destinations by foreigners, covering 65.7% of total inbound tourism spending.
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