When it comes to tourist consumption, for Italians, economic difficulties are a bigger problem than the fear of Covid-19. This is evidenced by a study conducted by Demoskopika on Italian tourism. In addition, some other very insightful and invaluable data on this sector were found.
According to the study, 54% of Italians preferred to go on vacation compared to 46% who refused to travel this year for various reasons.
The main reason, which may be a bit strange, is not the fear of getting Covid-19, but economic problems. About ten million Italians are worried about this.
Almost all vacationers stay in Italy
As for the specific figures for vacationers, “confirmed” by the survey, 87% of them will spend their holidays in Italy. On the contrary, 13% will go to foreign countries, 11.1% plan to travel in Europe and only 2.1% will choose an international destination.
Moreover, 31% of these vacationers have already booked a vacation, and 17% of respondents “think about planning a vacation for the next few months.” To date, only 6% are on vacation.
Youth and rest at the sea prevail
Young people are more likely to go on holiday (62%) than adults (59%) and people over 65 (33%). The most convinced vacationers live in the south.
In addition, they have a secondary or high level of education and the status of dependent employment (managers, middle managers, etc.).
Finally, almost 6 out of 10 Italians decided to spend a vacation by the sea (58%). The second most popular type of recreation – mountain tourism (15%), followed by recreation in the city (10%) and recreation in rural areas (8%).
Covid’s fear is not so great
As already mentioned, the fear of contracting Covid-19 is not as high in the list of reasons why Italians do not travel as one might expect. Only 5% refused to leave because of this. This is 19% less than in May last year.
Economic considerations are much more important when making decisions by Italians, as 17% of them will not go on vacation because they do not have the economic ability to do so.
It should be noted that the situation is deteriorating. Only 8% of respondents said they could not travel due to economic problems in May 2020, compared to the terrible 17% today.
As for those who refused to travel for “economic reasons”, it is mostly people with a low level of education or the unemployed.
Moreover, there are more elderly people in this group than young people, which roughly corresponds to the share of the group of vacationers. Regionally, more and more people from central Italy and the northwest prefer not to go on vacation.
An alarming trend
Experts note that this year will inevitably be described as “two-person” tourism, one mirroring the other. On the one hand, these are those who have chosen a vacation, mainly to Italy, and on the other, those who are economically weakened by the pandemic and have chosen a different path.
This is a really disturbing trend. And although Italy’s tourism sector is in a phase of gradual recovery, it is important to pay attention to these problems, as well as the closure of almost 100,000 companies or the penetration of organized crime in this sector.
Experts call on the government to take effective measures to restore the Italian tourism system in cooperation with associations and institutions at various levels.
At the moment, however, the central government is keeping quiet about this issue, and the call of Italian tourism stakeholders has not been answered.