Easter and spring long weekends, almost 20 million Italians leaving. Seaside and cities of art are the favorite destinations

Ten million Italians ready to leave for the Easter holidays, two of which are still undecided due to the uncertain weather, but ready to pack their bags. Others 8 and a half million they are planning a trip for the long weekend of April 25th. It emerges from the focus on Easter of theConfcommercio Tourism Observatory in collaboration with Swg.

With a total expense of 3.5 billion – 350 euros per person – Italians traveling at Easter choose Italy in 85% of cases. In the last month, many have revised their programs, organizing shorter holidays closer to home: in fact, those who will spend 2 nights at the destination have increased by 12 percentage points, today they are 61% of those interviewed. The number of holidaymakers abroad increases from 11% to 15%, choosing them as their main destinations Spain, France And Austriaregardless of the number of scheduled overnight stays.

The sea takes the lion’s share with 25% of preferences, followed by the cities of art chosen by 21% and the mountains by 15%. The choices of accommodation solutions are even more concentrated, for which 51% opt for a hotel or a B&B, while 30%, on the other hand, take advantage of Easter to reopen second homes they own or to visit relatives and friends.

A lot of desire for the South

There is so much desire for the South in that 46% of Italians who, remaining on the peninsula, will make a trip outside their own region: Campania, Sicily And Puglia – at the top of the ranking – are the destination of 3 out of 10 interviewees while, among the Northern regions, Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and Tuscany – chosen by a further 3 out of 10 tourists – are just behind Liguria and Veneto.

Identical data on the turnover of Easter tourism, 3 and a half billion, but at least apparently different figures, on the tourist movement front, come from the similar survey ofi Cna Tourism and commercewhich however distinguishes between real tourists – who they will spend an average of 2 nights away from home, and simple day trippers. Both will be about half of fourteen million people who will travel around the Bel Paese at Easter and its surroundings and which in this case also include the over two and a half million foreigners not counted by the Confcommercio observatory.

Cities and villages of art, coastal and lakeside resorts, spas will act as a magnet during the weekend between March and April. The estimates are better than the result of 2019, the last year before Covid, and more or less in line with last year.

Price increases shorten distances and duration

The increase in prices, especially of transport, pushes us to prefer shorter journeys for excursions by day-trippers and trips by tourists, i.e. those who spend at least one night in hotel or non-hotel facilities.

The trend is quite homogeneous throughout our country even if the less than positive weather forecasts for the Alpine arc do not seem to make the results for the high mountains uniform after an already less than exciting winter season. Conversely, an acceleration is estimated for the seaside resorts of central-southern Italy with peaks in the areas favored by high-end tourism (Amalfi coast, Tuscany, Puglia, Sardinia, Sicily) where a high influx of foreign holidaymakers is expected. Generally the coasts and lakes popular with day-trippers and tourists are good

The boom of art cities and villages

Boom for cities of art, with RomeFlorence, Naples, VeniceMilan, Genoa, Turin, Verona, Bari, Palermo, Pesaro (capital of culture), Matera, Bologna, Ravenna and many others destined to be taken by storm also due to the numerous historical-artistic exhibitions open. From Tuscany to Emilia-Romagna, from Lazio to Campania, from north to south, notable success is also expected for the villages, authentic treasure chests of beauty and treasures such as, just to name a few, Saint Gimignano and Città della Pieve, Pienza and Tivoli, Bressanone and Venosa, Otranto and Agnone. The religious liturgies of Holy Week and Easter are widely followed, sought after in every region of Italy, even in the less traveled areas, food and wine specialties, artisanal products and experiential activities.

The analysis of Confindustria Alberghi talk about good results, despite the “low” Easter, at the beginning of spring, is not generally favorable. The resulting photograph, in most destinations, indicates increasing data in the domestic component and confirmation of the prevalent international presence in hotel structures.

Very good the forecast for the mountain where the bookings arrived to date represent 80% of the rooms availablethe. The clientele is mainly Italian but there is no shortage of foreigners especially from Northern Europe (Great Britain, Germany and Denmark) and from Eastern Europe, Poland and the Czech Republic in particular. Bookings in seaside resorts also represent over 54% of rooms. Also in this case the clientele is mainly Italian but the foreign clientele is growing, primarily Americans especially in the luxury segment, French and Germans.

Venice leads with a booking figure of well over 75% of available rooms, up 10% compared to last year’s holiday. The hotels of the Serenissima recorded an increase in both Italian (+5%) and foreign customers (+8%), mainly coming from the long haul markets (USA, South Korea).

Crowded hotels almost everywhere, Milan being the exception

TO Rome the figure represents 71% of available rooms, an increase of 4% compared to last year both in terms of domestic tourism (+5%) and foreign tourism (+2%) coming mainly from the USA, France, Germany and Brazil.

Florence follows with a forecast data on occupancy of 67% compared to available rooms, an increase of 4% compared to 2023. In the Florentine capital, the increase in foreign customers (+6%) offsets the decline in Italians (-3%) but last second bookings could still be added. Among the main foreign markets of origin are France, Spain, the USA but also Korea and China.

Cities such as Naples, Turin and Perugia also performed well. The booking data in the Neapolitan city reaches 76% of available rooms, an increase of 2% compared to last year; the Piedmontese capital is close to 63% while the Umbrian one even reaches 80%.

Slightly different discussion for Milan where bookings represent 56.5% of available rooms, down compared to Easter 2023. The slowdown essentially due to the decrease in Italians (-4%) is not compensated by the increase in foreigners (+1% compared to Easter 2023) among which mainly European tourists stand out, led by Spaniards and Germans.

Results all in all encouraging when compared with forecasts Str CoStar e relating to our competitors who see the booking data on available rooms London at 67.3%, Paris at 64.4% e Barcelona at 66.5%.