The Outdoor 2020 Tourism Observatory, now in its 3rd edition and created by Human Company in collaboration with Istituto Piepoli, takes an accurate picture of the “open air” hospitality segment. The survey is based on a quantitative research carried out by interviewing 2,053 individuals joined by focus groups with 12 operators and opinion leaders and as many outdoor tourists. This sector seems to respond well, more than any other, to the needs of the traveler in the post-emergency period of the pandemic, given that it makes it possible to more easily comply with current safety regulations.
According to estimates prepared by the Istituto Piepoli, the turnover of outdoor tourism in 2019 stood at around 8.5 billion Euro (5.2 for accommodation services and 3.3 for catering services), with a share of Italian trips that is worth 25% of the total. In fact, of the almost 80 million journeys made by Italians in their country and abroad (Istat, February 2020), 20 million were outdoors. In total, there were 92 million overnight stays, equal to 23% of the total.
Favorite destinations (Puglia 13%, Tuscany 11% and Sicily 10%) are reached in 8 out of 10 cases in the summer, and 69 percent are seaside resorts. The data also say that mountain enthusiasts are 16 percent, followed by 12 percent of the public who prefer cities and places of art instead. The holiday is mainly done as a couple (53%) or with the whole family (34%).
The Istat (the Italian institutes for statistic) figures indicate that, only in the March-May period, the Covid-19 emergency burned an 18.5% share of the presences of the entire tourist year. 41 percent of respondents from Istituto Piepoli confirm that the health emergency did not change their plans, while 16% had to cancel their holidays in February-March and 39% canceled their scheduled trips in April-May. 3% canceled the summer period.
69% of the Italians surveyed, however, declare their intention to take a break in the next 12 months and, although the share is 14 percentage points less than a similar survey carried out a year ago, there is a strong desire to return to the normality, of which holidays are an important part. Among other things, the propensity increases significantly among those who have made an outdoor stay in the village and camping or an “on the road” trip in the last year (80%). Of all the respondents, almost half (49%) aspire to have an outdoor experience. Of these, 14 percent normally take different types of holidays.
“In this first half of 2020 we landed on a new planet: the way we eat, we keep in touch, we travel has changed,” said Livio Gigliuto, Vice President of Istituto Piepoli. “However, our need to feed ourselves, to socialize, to go on vacation does not change. Open air tourism, from what emerges from our investigations, is the answer that was already there to a need that we now know we have: that of ‘going out to see the stars’ after months of forced closure, to live safe and sustainable experiences. Studying outdoor tourism today means casting an eye on the future of the concept of a more ‘permanent’ and safer holiday“.
“Since its first edition, in 2018, our Outdoor Tourism Observatory has proved to be a useful tool for monitoring a sector that in recent years has recorded constant growth trends in Italy, mainly intercepting a foreign public,” said Luca Belenghi , General Manager of Human Company (in the photo at beginning of this story). “This new edition comes at a time of great difficulty and uncertainty for the tourism industry and proposes the outdoor sector as the most appropriate holiday mode for the revitalization of domestic tourism. From our investigation it turns out that the holiday is now among the basic necessities. As leaders in the sector, we at Human Company are ready to experience this strange summer season with optimism, but with our feet planted on the ground: our facilities – from camping in town to villages – are gradually opening, ready to offer stays in complete safety, thanks also to an important digitization process”.
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