“We try to be like our competing countries, avoiding restrictions and facilitating foreigners in Italy. The same ones that from the polls in January defined Italy as the first country to visit, but which in reality bring Italy to fifth place in the list of arrivals at the end of the year,” stated Italy Tourism Minister Massimo Garavaglia.
This is one topic dealt with by Minister Garavaglia during his speech at the Assoturismo-Confesercenti (the Italian Federation of Tourism, and the association that represents affiliated categories in commerce, tourism, and services) entitled “Return to great beauty” that was held in Rome.
600 million available vs. 3 billion required
Garavaglia stressed the need to improve above all in incoming and accommodation facilities and that the 600 million made available by the government proved the insufficient opposite to a request of 3 billion.
“We will meet all the requests which are fundamental for an adaptation of the structures. Even in digital we are still lacking,” said the minister, adding:
“We must be on a par with other countries and also invest in the quality of services.”
The minister also touched on the problem of the lack of seasonal staff and the need to find a solution by going fishing among the beneficiaries of citizenship income. “They could employ at least a third of the income receivers in seasonal jobs. The solution could be to allow accumulation to incentivize work, leaving the recipient half of the income.”
First data on arrivals
As for the first data on arrivals, especially in the art cities, the minister stressed the good performance achieved in recent months and the excellent forecasts for the next.
He stated they must “improve and invest in what the market requires today. Today, cycling tourism is in great demand, and we are investing 5 billion on that, while Germany invested 20 billion in the same brand,” he pointed out.
Italian outgoing sector
Online travel purchases are registering a significant recovery in 2022, with Spanish purchasing intentions increasing by 7% and reaching 38% of the population, as revealed by the data collected in the second edition of Adevinta’s Digital Pulse report.
While representing a significant improvement, this growth is slower than the data before the pandemic. According to the study, in fact, before COVID, 44% of the population declared that they had booked their travel online.
During the first year of the pandemic, after travel was stopped due to restrictions imposed to contain infections, the figure dropped to 15%, a percentage of 23 points lower than this year. In 2021, it rose by 16 points to 31%, a recovery that is now consolidated with the figures of 2022, with an increase of 7 points to 38%, but still 6 points below 2019.
On the generations
Analyzing the data for generations, the study reveals growth in all categories, especially among people aged 65 and over, a segment of the population that records an increase of 10 percentage points between 2021 and 2022, going from 25% to 35%.
Román Campa, CEO of Adevinta Spain, explains the increase with the fact that pre-pandemic this segment used to make these kinds of in-person purchases at offline travel agencies.
“During the pandemic, they have acquired digital habits which are reflected in trends like this and which explain why it is increasingly common for seniors to use the Internet to organize their holidays,” he explained.
He added that this buying habit will grow in the coming years, as the more digitized generations climb the population pyramid.
After the over 65s, the second-largest increase is recorded among Millennials, recording plus 7 points from 35% to 42%, while among members of generations Z, X, and Baby Boomers, the increase is 6 percentage points.
In 2021, travel ranked fourth in the top 5 of the categories of items or services most purchased online, with 31% of the population in a year still marked by restrictions and anti-COVIDmeasures.
