The high season is approaching, and there are all the conditions for the Italian tourism to achieve excellent results. The data collected in the ENIT survey on bookings in accommodation facilities – commissioned to Isnart and Unioncamere and conducted between June 30 and July 7, 2023 – indeed suggest a surpassing of the results achieved in 2019, a record season for the tourism industry.
The data that indicates this trend is the +20% increase in advance sales for tourist stays in the months of August and September, with an average of 2 more rooms booked per 10 compared to the same period last year. According to the study, 58.4% of available rooms/beds have already been booked for July, rising to 83.6% for August, and settling around 48.9% for tourist stays in September.
Italians are booking, but foreigners are also increasing
In the ENIT press release, the words of Loretta Credaro, president of Isnart, highlight the particularly favorable moment for Italian tourism, with bookings for the summer of 2023 surpassing those of the summer of 2019. “These results,” explains Credaro, “are largely due to the Italian demand, which represents 72% of the clientele in our hospitality system during the peak month of August, with a stable trend reported for the entire summer quarter by 7 out of 10 operators.“
But foreigners are also returning, with Germans and French leading the way, followed by Americans and Dutch. “Italy is once again at the center of international tourism, which is ready to reach pre-pandemic numbers. In August, one out of three tourists is a foreigner,” says Ivana Jelinic, President and CEO of ENIT, welcoming the return of foreign tourists to Italian destinations.
August in the mountains, almost fully booked
Bookings mainly concern hotel facilities (63.5% of available rooms booked for July, 84.3% for August, and 45.7% for September) and agritourism establishments (66.9% for July, 90.2% for August), followed by B&Bs (68.5% for July, 86.2% for August) in the non-hotel sector.
As for destinations, the ENIT survey shows a positive trend for mountain locations, which had experienced a decrease in visitors last year: for the summer of 2023, the mountains record bookings of 62% for July and close to full capacity for August (88.2%), with 41.3% of sales already closed for September.
Bookings for seaside destinations account for 54.8% of available rooms in July (slightly less than last year), but 81.7% in August (approximately 1 more room for every 10 compared to 2022) and 52.3% for September. Finally, for city stays, bookings exceed those of 2022 throughout the quarter, with 57.6% of rooms booked for July, an 82.5%average occupancy for August, and 50.4% for September.
The high booking rate, therefore, gives hope to tourism operators, who can look forward with confidence to closing the balance sheet, thanks also to the positive results already achieved in the first half of 2023. According to the survey, in fact, 67.7% of operators predict at least a break-even budget for 2023.
