at Christmas 20% less than in 2007
In numerical terms, just under half a million tourists will arrive in Rome (200 thousand in the first period, 298 thousand in the second), for a total of 110,000 fewer visitors than last year.
This is the first decline in two years now. For those working in the sector, the fault lies above all in the international crisis which is slowing down the travel of the tourists most “loyal” to the eternal city, namely Americans and Japanese, who alone make up 60% of the capital’s market.
| After years of too much growth, this decline was conceivable |
According to Ebtl data, in this period tourism is not only decreasing in Rome: at a macro area level, Europe and Italy are down 16%, North America is down 21%, South East Asia is down 26%.
During the presentation of the data, which took place at the Ara Pacis, the president of the bilateral tourism body of the Lazio Region did not overemphasize the data. “In the cold it seems like a vertical fall in demand, but it must be considered that these are always periods in which we don’t know how much they will affect the month or the year and above all we were coming from a 2007 with extremely significant growth, with a plus of 19.34 in the presences of Christmas and a plus of 21.68 on New Year’s Eve. The crisis is global, but Rome is defending itself well.”
There is also no catastrophism from Claudio Mancini, councilor of the Lazio Region for Economic Development, Research, Innovation and Tourism: “things are difficult, but let’s not give a Cattrastophist interpretation: Rome is declining less than other areas and remains a great international destination”.
Even on the part of the president of Federalberghi, Giuseppe Roscioli, there is a tendency to minimize the data: “after years of too much growth this decline was presumable: now we must give signs of optimism and it is good to focus on emerging markets, where there is space to be conquered.”
