Bocca: 'Sector grows but wars affect foreign flows'

The shadow of geopolitical crises is stretching over the Italian hospitality industry. This was said by Bernabò Bocca, on Friday evening re-elected by acclamation with a standing ovation, to his sixth term at the helm of Federalberghi. "Today, Italian tourism continues to demonstrate a remarkable capacity for resilience and growth," he said during the 76th assembly held in Rome with the participation of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Enterprise Minister Adolfo Urso, Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida, and Tourism Minister Gianmarco Mazzi. "The ongoing conflicts, from Ukraine to the Middle East, up to the tensions linked to Iran, do not only affect international balances. They can also affect tourist flows to our country, especially those coming from overseas markets, which more than others are affected by the perception of instability, uncertainty in connections and the general climate of tension. As of today we do not have any major cancellations for 2026,' the president continued, 'but we are seeing a slowdown especially from the overseas market, which is a market with great spending power. Bocca's requests include, among other things, the equalization of hotel and non-hotel accommodation with 'the same rules for all accommodation facilities', the fight against bogus reviews, the high cost of energy 'a strong mortgage on results and prospects' as well as the announcement that he wants to 'strengthen promotion, preside over strategic markets and continue to offer an image of reliability, safety and quality that is stronger than any crisis scenario. But all this we cannot do alone'. Before handing over the floor to the premier Bocca says: "We need the government, central and local administrations to be at our side. They understand our problems and help us face them'.

Once on stage, Giorgia Meloni joked with the Federalberghi president about 'your heartfelt election, then you give me a course' and addressing the audience of over 700 entrepreneurs representing the Federalberghi system, she remarked 'I am aware that without you, Italia could not achieve the results it has in tourism. Results not of an individual but of a supply chain. And it is this continuity between political vision, private initiative and widespread professionalism that transforms the potential of Italian tourism into an increasingly competitive experience, capable of standing out on the international scene'. On the issue of short-term rentals, 'a proposal was made in recent months. We are having a problem with the shrinking number of houses available for family rentals and the resulting increase in prices for the rents of families in difficulty. This is a problem that we thought could also be addressed with an initiative of this kind, but there has been a fairly general uprising. We found ourselves somewhat alone in trying to give this type of response,' said the Prime Minister. On the energy front after state visits to Algeria and the Gulf countries to 'ensure that this nation did not have contractions in the supply of its key energy resources, the same thing I will be doing in Azerbaijan in a couple of weeks'.

Among the knotty issues in the sector are that of abusiveness and pirate contracts: 'Pirates are those who use non-regular employment contracts, often signed by ghost organisations, without any representation,' Bocca urges. Not only do they produce uncertainty and exploitation, they can cause huge economic losses to those who give in to their blandishments. A recent research we carried out with the Adapt association showed that the risk associated with this is 40,000 euro per year in higher costs for the average company'. In the tug-of-war with the non-hotel offer, the president launches a proposal: "We understand how in some areas of the country, such as the villages, where there are few accommodation facilities, flats can be of great help, too bad that 97% of tourist flats are in the big cities, so they are not helping the villages but are competing unfairly with us," he emphasises. "Our proposal could be to lower the taxation on flats in the villages, or rather to zero it, but to increase the taxation on short rentals that open in our cities.

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