Sharp rise in tourist for Immaculate Conception weekend
PRESS RELEASE
SHARP RISE IN TOURIST FOR IMMACULATE CONCEPTION WEEKEND
BOOKINGS UP BY MORE THAN 100%: VERONA (+141.7%), TURIN (+131.3%), PALERMO (+121.1%), ROME (+89.2%) AND TRIESTE (+73.3%)
GAP NARROWS FOR BOOKINGS FROM THE USA: THE 4.8% DROP FOR THE WEEK FROM 5 TO 11 DECEMBER IS MUCH SMALLER COMPARED TO OTHER MARKETS OF ORIGIN AND TO THE INTERNATIONAL TOTAL IN ITALY
INTERNATIONAL TRAVELLERS CONFIRM THEIR PREFERENCE FOR ITALY FOR THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION LONG WEEKEND: OVER 74,000 BOOKINGS, ESPECIALLY FROM THE USA AND SPAIN
An upturn in bookings in Italy, with rises of as much as 100% in a number of art cities.
For the Immaculate Conception long weekend, from 7 to 11 December, offers from the major OTA (Online Travel Agencies) have resulted in a good occupancy rate for tourist accommodation facilities.
Bookings of rooms available in the accommodation facilities on the OTA channels are currently at 35% for the week from 5 to 12 December, up from 19.6% for the same period in 2021, with peaks on the days spanning the long weekend from 8 to 10 December, when occupancy rates reach 43.8%, 50.2% and 44.9% respectively, compared to 14.6%, 16.7% and 19.7% in 2021.
Mountain tourism is the driver for the season, topping the list of preferences and significantly exceeding the national average on those same days of the long weekend, with 62.4%, 68.9% and 60.0% of availability booked. Good performance also registered for lakeside destinations (8 December 47.4%; 9 December 52.4%: 10 December 49.8%), cultural tourism (48.3%; 56.1%; 47.8%) and spa tourism (51.6%; 53.1%; 46.4%). International travellers confirm their preferences for Italy also during this pre-Christmas holiday weekend.
For the week from 5 to 11 December, airline bookings for Italy total over 74,000, up 57.3% compared to the same period of 2021.
The largest numbers of travellers are from the USA and the Iberian peninsula. Airport arrivals from abroad are led by visitors from the USA (10,689, up 37.9% from 2021) and Spain, with a larger increase compared to the same week of 2021 (7,168, up 78.8%). Numbers from France have registered a slight fall, down 4.1% for the moment.
Italy remains behind competitors Spain and France in terms of volume, but performs better in terms of growth, up 57.3% on 2021 in the week from 5-11 December 2022, compared to Spain (+15.5%) and France (+42.7%), and exceeding Greece (+48.1%) by 10 percentage points.
Impressive figures also for the art cities. Net of volume, bookings are up by more than 100% for Verona (+141.7%), Turin (+131.3%) and Palermo (+121.1%), followed by Rome (+89.2%) and Trieste (+73.3%).
“We’re approaching 2019 levels: while for the week spanning the Immaculate Conception weekend the overall result of airline bookings for Italy is behind by 31.7%, there is reason for optimism if we consider the narrowing of the gap with regard to bookings from the USA, down by just 4.8%,” said ENIT CEO Ivana Jelinic.
Francesca Cicatelli
ENIT Press Office
Mob: (+39) 392.9225216
e-mail: francesca.cicatelli@enit.it