ENIT at IBTM in Spain: over 40,000 Spaniards choose Italy in December
PRESS RELEASE
ENIT AT IBTM IN SPAIN: OVER 40,000 SPANIARDS CHOOSE ITALY IN DECEMBER
TOPPING THE FAVOURITE LOCATIONS OF THE SPANISH ARE THE COLOSSEUM, CASTEL SANT'ANGELO, ST MARK’S BASILICA, THE GENOA AQUARIUM AND THE EGYPTIAN MUSEUM
ENIT is going to Spain to highlight the international power of the Italian tourist trade. Our presence at the IBTM trade fair, which brings together the leading professionals in the industry, will enable us to establish new networks, set new trends and share knowledge in the heart of the lively Catalan city. ENIT (the Italian National Tourist Board) is participating with a 402m2 stand (Stand D50), hosting 80 Italian exhibitors including convention bureaus, DMOs, hotel chains, conference centres, PCOs and DMCs and involving 11 regions: South Tyrol, Campania, Emilia Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Marche, Piedmont, Apulia, Sicily, Veneto and the City of Rome.
During the three-day event, the Italian stand will be the venue for numerous Destination Experiences and 2 cocktail events for networking and b2b meetings to connect exhibitors with buyers from international markets. 3,500 destinations and representatives of the facilities and services on offer are expected to meet with more than 15,000 industry professionals from some 150 countries around the world.
IBTM World is one of the top global events in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions and Exhibitions) sector. An annual trade fair bringing together professionals from the meeting, event and business travel industry, it creates a dynamic platform for networking, knowledge sharing and business opportunities. In the first 6 months of 2023, international travellers to Italy for business purposes were up 15.8% compared to the same period in 2022.
Spending by foreigner visitors on business trips to Italy is also growing significantly, up by 26.0% on 2022 and 21.6% on 2019.
Overnight stays were down 4.4% compared to the first half of 2022, but almost broke even with the 2019 figure, registering a drop of only 0.5%.
Between January and October 2023, an estimated 366,400 air passengers arrived from Spain, 17.0% more than the same period in 2022. Taking into account the airport flows expected in November and December (nearly 40,400), the increase for 2023 will be up about 11.0% on the previous year.
The heaviest flow is between June and October, with an overall incidence of 52.5% and a monthly distribution that remains consistently above 10%.
The majority were one-way trips (56.1%) and bookings for one passenger (41.9%), almost exclusively in Economy class (89.0%).
The average stay in Italy is around 4 nights. Specifically, 23% of return trips include 5 to 7 overnight stays. Rome receives 31.6% of Spanish airport passengers, 21.5% from Madrid and 10.1% from Barcelona. Milan accounts for 19.0% of the total flows, 13.4% coming from Madrid and 5.6% from Barcelona. Between January and October 2023, the average feeling among Spanish users about Italy as a tourist destination was very positive: 82.5% on a scale of 1 to 100. Highlights include the Colosseum and Castel Sant'Angelo, St Mark’s Basilica, the Genoa Aquarium and the Egyptian Museum.
In the first 6 months of 2023, the number of travellers from Spain accounted for 5.3% of the international total in Italy, an increase of 11.7% on 2022 and 22.3% compared to 2019.
“The arrival of Spanish tourists in Italy is of strategic importance, given the geographical proximity of the two countries and their cultural alignments. This tourist flow not only contributes to the industry’s economy but also fosters intercultural exchange, consolidating ties between the communities and promoting the diversification of the tourist offering” says Ivana Jelinic, Chair and CEO of ENIT.
Francesca Cicatelli
ENIT Press Office
Phone: +39 06 4971 480