Is the US tourist bubble deflating in Italy? Summer bookings from North America down 10%, -17% in Rome

The Jubilee as a great magnet for tourism, not only religious. And the election of Francis Robert Prevost as the first US Pope in the millennial history of the Church. These are two driving factors for the arrivals of international travellers to Rome in particular. But tourism is a sector that like few others is sensitive to factors that can influence the choices of those who travel.

Thus, while platforms and tour operators are registering a growing interest in the Capital of travellers from North America, different signals are coming from overseas: according to data collected by the aviation industry analysis company Cirium, transatlantic travel is set to cool considerably this summer: the forecast is a 9.8% drop from North America to Europe in June, July and August compared to the same period last year. In the reverse direction (Europe to North America) bookings will drop by 12%.

Trends that are not entirely surprising: it would be a confirmation of what many airlines have explained in their account forecasts: transatlantic air travel is slowing down due to market instability, the trade war unleashed by the Trump administration, but also stricter border controls in the US.

This is a sample survey made a group of cities as origin and destination of the trip and is mainly based on data from third-party online travel agencies (Ota). Bookings made directly with airlines are not included. In any case, it is a trend that, despite the factors mentioned at the beginning (Jubilee and the election of an American pope) also seems to affect the Italian capital. If in fact the most significant drops in bookings concern flights to Munich (-24%), Amsterdam (-22%), Athens (-19%), even Rome marks a significant setback: -17 per cent. Similarly, the other Italian destinations recorded more moderate declines: for Milan -10% and Naples just -1%. Only Lisbon recorded a positive trend in bookings, with a 7% increase over last year. Bookings for Paris remained stable compared to the previous year.