Attendance boom in Cortina thanks to arrivals from all over the world

It is a rich, international tourism that has been seen in the Ampezzo basin this summer. Americans, British, French but also Chinese and Japanese. These are some of the countries of origin of the guests who chose to spend part of their holidays in Cortina d'Ampezzo. Seventy per cent of the guests came from abroad, and Cortina's 4- and 5-star hotels recorded a 28.1% increase in admissions compared to summer 2023. A trend that has resulted in an average occupancy rate of around 81%, +15.1% over the previous year. This is according to the latest findings processed by HBenchmark for the Cortina Hoteliers' Association. The peak of admissions was reached in August, with 96% during the long weekend of Ferragosto. July and September also marked good results, closing at 82% and 80% respectively, while June closed at 73%, mainly due to unfavourable weather conditions.

Slightly more than one in five guests come from the United States, almost 6% from France, 3.6% from the United Kingdom to finish with South Korea and Germany ex aequo at 2.9%. This is followed by Canada, Brazil, Taiwan, Thailand, China, Japan and New Zealand. It is precisely the Americans, thanks to the super dollar, who are the best customers of Cortina's 4- and 5-star hotels. The majority of Italians stayed in 2 and 3 star hotels where bookings were up 4.7%. "The strong presence of foreign guests, the rise in the share of visitors from the Far East and the consistent increase in the occupancy rate in the high luxury sector bear witness to the growing attractiveness of Cortina as a tourist destination of excellence and its strategic positioning on the global market," points out Stefano Pirro, president of the Cortina Hoteliers Association. "Foreigners, compared to our compatriots, generally have a greater spending capacity. And I am referring primarily to Americans, who can count on the favourable exchange rate. Not only that: those arriving from non-European countries plan extended stays and tend to choose 'all inclusive' solutions, with services that cannot always be found in a 2 or 3-star hotel. One above all is the opportunity to stay in facilities with an in-house restaurant: let's not forget that people come to Italy also and above all to appreciate the local food and wine and have it on hand'. There is also another reason that has favoured incoming: many hotels in Cortina belong to international chains and are listed on their platforms. They are thus certain to find high service standards. Italian customers, often loyal guests of the Conca, choose family-run hotels.

If the high season saw an exploit of presences, September also brought satisfaction to the hospitality industry. "September recorded numbers almost equivalent to those of July and August, finally demonstrating how Cortina is queen of the Dolomites not only in the height of summer or during the Christmas holidays, but for increasingly extended periods - underlines Pirro -. This year too, many structures will remain open until late October and in the meantime the first significant bookings for the winter are already starting to arrive; even if unfortunately we will miss the 8 December long weekend - which falls on a Sunday - we hope in any case to be able to repeat the summer exploit".