The holiday is planned, no longer last minute: we are already thinking about September. Book 2 more rooms out of 10 than last year
Tourism is experiencing a season of great recovery with travelers inclined to book in advance to the point of exceeding the trend of 2019. From the Enit survey commissioned to Isnart and Unioncamere to monitor the trend of hospitality in Italian hotel and complementary accommodation companies between 30 June and 7 July 2023 positive signals emerge for the summer high season.
After a stable July and in line with last year, there is instead a 20 percent increase in advance sales for tourist stays in August and September with an average higher than in 2022: on average 2 more rooms booked out of 10 In July, 58,4% of the available rooms/beds were already booked, rising to 83,6% for August and settling at around 48,9% for tourist stays in September.
“Italy is once again at the center of international tourism which is ready to reach pre-pandemic numbers. In August, 1 out of 3 tourists was a foreigner. In general, between July and September, 6 out of 10 operators report stability compared to last year in bookings by foreign customers and in just 3 out of 10 cases a growth which mainly concerns tourists from from Germany and France, followed by the USA and the Netherlands/Holland” comments Ivana Jelinic President and CEO of Enit.
"The reservations reported by the Italian hospitality operators are higher than those sold in the summer of 2019 which, as we know, was a record year for the Italian tourism chain" explains Loretta Credaro, President of Isnart, who adds: "These results are largely linked to the Italian demand which in the peak month of August represents 72% of the customers of the structures of our hospitality system, with a trend reported as stable, throughout the summer quarter, by 7 operators out of 10".
Sales were mainly anticipated by hotel structures (63,5% of available rooms were booked for July, 84,3% for August and 45,7% for September) of each category and holiday farms (July 66,9% %, August 90,2%), followed by B&Bs (68,5% July, 86,2% August) for the non-hotel sector.
The mountain product recovers the ground lost last year, which for this summer 2023 records bookings of 62% for the month of July and close to sold out for August (88,2%), with 41,3% of sales already closed for September.
At the beach, 54,8% of the available rooms are booked for July, less than last year, but with a recovery for the stays scheduled in August which reach an average of 81,7% of the availability for the period (about 1 more room for each 10 compared to 2022) and 52,3% of bookings for September.
Good prospects also for the managers of accommodation facilities in the city, with bookings exceeding those of 2022 throughout the quarter, with 57,6% of rooms booked for July, 82,5% average occupancy for August and 50,4. XNUMX% for September.
As for the management performance of companies, 2023% of operators estimate at least a balanced budget for 67,7, optimistic forecasts thanks to the substantial bookings already received for the summer season but above all by a good final balance for the first half of the 2023: 35,2% of available rooms occupied on average in January (+7 percentage points compared to 2019), in February 33,8% (+4,6 pp) in March 36,6% (+4,5 pp) 39,7 pp), 2% (+46 pp) in April, 5% (+64,7 pp) in May and 10,2% (+XNUMX pp) in June.
This positive trend in the first half was driven, in the winter season, by the appeal of mountain accommodation facilities (between January and March between 42% and 50% of the available rooms were sold); while spring was characterized above all by positive spa facilities (April 47,2%, May 56,5% of sales) and the month of June by the good performance of the facilities in the lake resorts (70,2%).