How things change in less than a month! Not only in terms of infections, but also of impact on tourism in Italy, which currently sees 2.5 million cancellations for the upcoming holidays. In October, the epidemiological situation was good, especially when compared with that of other European countries, especially those of Northern Europe and Central and Eastern Europe.
Now Austria, Germany, Holland are in serious difficulty and also Italy, fortunately still at the level of some regions or portions of them (Alto Adige, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Marche and Calabria – source ECDC), the situation is becoming serious, so much so that the government should soon intervene with a “strengthened” green pass. This measure will affect above all non-vaccinated people who will no longer be able to access bars and restaurants (obviously indoors), stadiums, cinemas and theaters, gyms and so on, through a green certificate obtained with the swab. However, the swab will be used to access the work places.
This climate of uncertainty and concern, which the government and the Scientific Technical Committee are transmitting, certainly does not help tourism and creates strong doubts on how to behave for the upcoming holidays. In fact, a month ago the number of departures of Italians by the end of the year was estimated at 35 million (10 million for December 8 for Immaculate Conception, 12 million for Christmas and 13 million for New Year’s Eve). At the moment, cancellations are already at 2.5 million.
These are the first worrying data that emerge from the usual survey on the propensity to travel of Italians carried out by Confturismo-Confcommercio, in collaboration with SWG, conducted between November 15 and 19, 2021. The reason for this trend is clear and depends on the information on the increase in infections from Covid-19, which generate a sort of “freezer effect” on the winter season, which was supposed to definitively archive the crisis, and which instead promises to be still very uncertain.
Going into the details of the survey, it turns out that 8.5 million respondents declared that they had changed their holiday destination by choosing one that is closer or who have reduced the days, on average already well below the corresponding figure for 2019. In any case, a “hard core” of 35.5% – more than 12 million people – resists, made up of those who do not intend to change their minds for any of the scheduled periods and declare that they will leave anyway. However, in half of the cases, these are holidays with family or friends, whose impact of spending on real tourist services is reduced compared to the average.
“Uncertainty prevails, not fear, and for this we need clear and immediate information from the competent authorities on any rules to be adopted to safely face the upcoming holidays”, comments Luca Patanè, president of Confturismo-Confcommercio. “This above all for the vaccinated ‘people’, the most inclined and ready to leave”.
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