Italy’s Tourism and Commerce Association has estimated that, for the period between 1 March and 31 May, the hotel sector will see €7.4bn less revenue.
A study by HVS said that, coming out of the crisis, the cities that should react faster would be those relying more on internal demand and a more balanced mix between business and leisure travel.
Other than in the Lombardy region, hotels and other accommodation facilities were allowed to operate but, the study said, “there are so many limitations and restrictions in place regarding the business itself and the behaviour of clientele that it does not make any sense to keep operating”. Restrictions included a stop to all public and private events and to all restaurant and bar activities.
It was estimated that more than 95% of the hotels were now closed, with the remainder open for key workers.
Tourism represented roughly 13% of the Italian GDP and with approximately 128 million total tourist arrivals and 429 million overnights in 2018, Italy was one of the main European destinations worldwide.
More than 50% of the demand was directed to coastal areas and, predominantly, it was leisure demand that supported the Italian tourism, while the trend showed that business arrivals were experiencing some turbulence in the last few years with a share of about 15% on total overnights. Finally, about 60% of international arrivals come from mainland Europe.
Italians’ outbound travel (2019) was measured at about 24.3 million trips (representing about 34% of total trips of Italian residents) with an average stay of over 5.7 days, potentially generating 138 million overnights.
The study concluded: “The level of growth shown in the past could also represent a sign of dynamism and capacity of the local system to recover and penetrate the target markets.”