The recent period just reconfirmed the importance of a sector, tourism, which normally accounts for 13% of the Italian GDP.
Only few months ago it seemed impossible to combine the necessary security measures and the adoption of solutions that would make the tourist offer attractive with the concept of travelling.
In such a delicate moment, both sense of responsibility of tourists and professionals has been put to the test; in particular, the latter had to renounce to the optimization of the spaces in virtue of rationing and distance. Tourism operators also took on the task of bringing back to the rules the tourist that, in search of escape and dropped into the vacation’s atmosphere, often lowered his guard.
The efficiency in both organization and service have allowed professionals an immediate return of image in the eyes of the tourist, that has appreciated the seriousness with which the welcoming has been managed and safeguarded (often in parallel with a reduced economic income). Trust and loyalty are translated today into the creation of an emotional bond with the guest that will become the competitive advantage in the medium-long term.
Covid crisis overturned needs and priorities of Italian people, who put the level of security offered at the top of the list of requirements for their vacations. These new preferences helped to outline the trends for summer 2020.
Italians, who have always been great extrophiles, adopted a new way of experiencing tourism, preferring locations of regional proximity: short range destinations, preferably reachable by their own means, have been a necessity, not a choice.
From the study made by Confturismo Confcommercio conducted on the behavior of tourists in the last summer, some significant data emerge:
- only 4% of respondents chose foreign countries – exclusively European countries – as their vacation destination
- 41% of the respondents took traditional long vacations (with at least 5 overnight stays at destination)
- 19% have made short or split trips in different periods
Changes in the choice of accommodation by Italians are also evident.
According to the ACS marketing solutions survey, hotel was the preferred accommodation for 24.7% of travelers, but this figure is exceeded by the sum of alternative accommodations: home of relatives and friends (22.1%), owned houses (15.4%), B&B (14.2%).
In terms of social distancing and freedom of movement, then, the camper has seen an increase in use, as evidenced by the record number of requests, + 90% compared to 2019 (Fortune Italy), recorded by Yescapa, Europe’s leading camper sharing platform.
A survey conducted by Assoturismo shows how, in the June-August quarter, the drop in the number of visitors in the non-hotel sector (-27.5%) was less marked than in the hotel sector (-32.6%). This also emerges from the data reported by AirBnB on HuffingtonPost: domestic travel bookings of Italians in the week of July 8 were more than 80% higher than in the same period last year.
Italians preferred small, family-run lodging, farmhouses, agritourisms, widespread hotels; types of accommodation that recreate the protected and genuine environment of the house and that find their natural location in the countryside, in smaller towns and villages. This particular type of accommodation guarantee distance from mass tourism, intact natural contexts and well-being. The villages represent the treasure chest of our heritage, material and immaterial: here, better than elsewhere, it is possible to practice the so-called “experiential tourism”, in contact with the historical-artistic and cultural traditions that recall our roots. Without forgetting the eno-gastronomic riches, the pride of our country’s hospitality.
In an atmosphere where time is still marked by “human” rhythms, tourists have found in the villages an answer to their obsession of time, after a period in which each date and each deadline used to determine the degree of freedom granted to citizens.
Even British newspaper like The Guardian highlighted in an article the crucial role played by the Italian villages in summer 2020, defining the vacation spent in these places “ideal escape”.
Luca Patanè, president of Confturismo-Confcommercio, confirms the importance of sea destinations, which have recorded an historical record of 62% of preferences; more precisely, a report drawn up by the Osservatorio Confturismo-Confcommercio and SWG places Puglia on the top step of the podium, followed by Tuscany and Sicily.
On the other hand, cities and places of art have been strongly affected by the setback of international tourism, with an overall 10% of preferences. The cities of art are massively linked to incoming tourism and are identified with environments such as exhibitions, museums, churches, monuments, stores, public transport, all contexts (closed and open) that by their nature provide aggregations of people.
In recent months we have found ourselves imposing, by necessity, rules of daily life that often in other countries have always been part of the heritage of unwritten social norms; an example of this is the typically Italian tendency to crowd, which has necessarily been supplanted by the Anglo-Saxon custom of queuing.
From the beginning of the season it was clear that summer would be dominated by the preference for those destinations that promise relax, leisure and, above all, wide open spaces. In fact, we witnessed a sort of revenge of the mountain, which embodies the ideal of freedom, purity, contact with nature and, in short, that concept of “healthy” that we missed so much at a time when we were only talking about disease. According to UNCEM, mountains have consolidated a positive trend and have confirmed themselves as the ideal destination of this particular period.
It is certain that it will not be possible to avoid compliance with the rules for much longer. Tourism operators are traditionally used to trust in the beauties of our country, which alone attract the attention of tourists, who spontaneously choose Italy as a destination for their vacations. From now on, forced to move from the perspective of an Italy that “sells itself” to the need to expressly invite tourists to visit it, destinations must perceive this change as a stimulus to improve and reinvigorate our hospitality culture.
In the future it will be necessary to define new guidelines. The activity of tourism promotion will have to be carried out systematically and consistently: with a focus on strategic objectives shared among stakeholders; collaborations – also with the PA -, partnerships between operators and monitoring will all be tools useful to respond in a targeted manner to the new needs of the market.
Targeting and branding will be fundamental for the touristic offer, which must be different from the traditional standardized proposal and focus on the customization of the value perceived by each individual guest.
Clara Bosisio
Content editor
Hospite – The Italian Hospitality Academy