Italian tourism industry faces losses due to situation in Ukraine
Growing energy prices and aggravation of international tensions produce a serious negative impact on Italy’s tourism industry, while preventing it from returning to the pre-COVID level, BelTA reports with reference to RIA Novosti
According to Italian tourism association Assoturismo Confesercenti, in Q1 2022, tourists spent only 41m nights in Italian hotels and other recreational structures – or 28 percent less than in the same period last year. "In total, from January to March, only a little more than 12m people holidayed in the Apennines. Accordingly, the hopes of tour operators for rapid recovery growth after 2021 – when red coronavirus zones existed in Italy and many restrictions were in effect – have failed,” the organisation’s report reads.
Foreign tourism figures have dropped most of all. According to Assoturismo Confesercenti, in Q1 2022, the number of nights spent by foreign guests in Italy made 10m (38 percent) less than in the same period before the outbreak of the pandemic. Among Italian tourists, this figure decreased by 18 percent.
It is also noted that the events in Ukraine resulted in ‘the collapse of orders from Eastern Europe in late February’. The figures related to tourists’ arrival from the United States to the Apennines are also below the average level.
A similar trend is registered in domestic tourism. As reported, in March, 37 percent of Italians reduced trips by private cars due to a sharp increase in fuel prices. Weekend tours are also less popular now.
