Despite an unfavorable calendar, with Easter at the end of March, the results coming from bookings in Italian hotels are good. The photograph taken by Confindustria Alberghi shows, in most destinations, increasing data in the domestic component and confirmation of the prevalent international presence in hotel structures.
The forecast for the mountains is very good, where the bookings received to date represent 80% of the rooms available. The clientele is mainly Italian but there is no shortage of foreigners coming mainly 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 there is a growing number of foreigners, primarily Americans especially in the luxury segment, French and Germans.
Venice leads the way with a booking figure of well over 75% of available rooms, an increase of 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 long haul markets (USA, South Korea).
In 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 figure on occupancy of 67% compared to available rooms, increasing by 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 reaches 80%.
The situation is slightly different 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.
Overall encouraging results when compared with the Str CoStar forecasts and relative to our competitors who see the booking data on available rooms in London at 67.3%, Paris at 64.4% and Barcelona at 66.5%.
"The signals that arrive from hotel bookings during the Easter period - explains Maria Carmela Colaiacovo, president of the Italian Confindustria Alberghi Association - open the doors to an encouraging scenario. The expectations of a holiday linked to typically domestic tourism also tell us how constant the desire to visit them is our destinations also and above all by the international public who are looking for not only luxury but also unique experiences in our destinations. Positive signals on which it is necessary to work also in anticipation of next summer".
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