Tourism, bookings up for summer

Will the Ligurian hospitality industry be able to replicate the record numbers recorded in the 2024 summer season? The answer comes from Aldo Werdin, president of Federalberghi Liguria. "I am of the opinion that a balance sheet should always be drawn up at the end of the year,' he says. In the region in March and April there was a drop compared to the same months in 2023 because Easter and the weather did not help us while last year there was good weather and Easter fell in April. May is going well and I am hoping for a good summer thanks to the upward trend in bookings with +5-7% compared to last year".

In the first eight months of 2023, according to data from the Liguria Region, more than 12 million overnight stays were recorded, up 3.65% on the same period in 2022. This growth was driven above all by foreign presences, generally a clientele with a better spending capacity, which posted double-digit growth of 11% in the period with just over 5.2 million overnight stays.

It is the international clientele that is giving the best satisfaction. "Arrivals from abroad are doing very well and in certain hôtellerie segments such as luxury, incoming is the driving force,' Werdin continues. 'The low segment, that of 2 and 3-star hotels, is also suffering due to competition from short-let platforms. The demand is also weighed down by the difficult international situation. "In some 4- and 5-star hotels, at least 75% of the clientele is foreign," emphasises the president of the region's Federalberghi. In Liguria it is an increasingly driving market and Genoa has become a stop-off point for cultural tourism'. Among the countries of origin in the first 8 months of 2023 are Germany (+7.8% in presences), France (+7%), the United States with over 156 thousand presences (+30%) and Australia with 42 thousand arrivals (+181%). In the same period, on the other hand, there was a slight drop in Italian tourism (6,857 thousand presences, -1.4%), largely due to the weight of inflation, which forced many families to reduce their spending on holidays and travel.

As far as the province of Savona is concerned, the destination between Varazze and Alassio is the one with the highest tourist vocation in the region with about one third of the regional total. "The upcoming summer season is expected to be along the lines of summer 2023," says Carlo Scrivano, director of the Unione provinciale albergatori di Savona (Savona provincial hoteliers' union) and head of Tourism for Confindustria Liguria. "There is a greater focus by local administrations on providing more convincing reasons to stay, with more attention paid to tourists and an offer that takes the form of seaside experiences, food and outdoor activities.

This team game is being played out in a field where the prices of accommodation are stationary. "Prices are stable and for full board in line with those of 2023," adds Scrivano. "The prices of hotels that do not offer full board fluctuate according to the patterns of dynamic price algorithms. Foreign tourists, mainly from Germany, the Netherlands, France and Eastern Europe, who choose the province for their holidays generally stay one week, "while the share of those who stay two weeks has decreased because they increasingly like to diversify their destinations," explains the person in charge of Tourism at Confindustria Liguria.