Summer holidays: car journeys up 20 per cent. Among the seaside villages, Otranto is the most popular
Telepass Observatory: between January and July 2026, the Pantheon was the most searched-for attraction
Despite high fuel prices, even in the summer of 2026 Italians are not giving up on holidays by car. In fact, between June and July, Google searches relating to car journeys increased by around 20 per cent compared with the same period in 2025.
This is the finding of a study by the Telepass Observatory, a collaboration between Moveo, the travel and mobility magazine published by the Mundys Group, and Seed Digital. The study focused on a sample of 16 Italian cities of art and 16 villages, examining their respective attractions and the main travel-related services, with the aim of analysing the evolution of online interest in different types of destination.
Less general exploration
The research highlights another trend: less general exploration, and more focus on recognisable places and destinations. Whilst there was a 3.6 per cent decrease in the total number of searches analysed compared with the summer quarter of 2025, searches for specific monuments and attractions increased by 3.4 per cent. By contrast, more general searches related to ‘things to do’ fell by 26.3%.
The analysis suggests a more practical and selective approach to planning: monuments and iconic sites are increasingly influencing the choice of destination and the individual stops along the journey. This itinerant approach makes the car the ideal means of transport.
Motoring culture in tourism
Culture continues to be one of the main drivers of tourism in the country: in 2025, searches relating to monuments and cultural attractions accounted for 78.7% of the total analysed by the Observatory; in the first few months of 2026, this figure rose to 81%.
