ROMA (ITALPRESS) – After a 2025 consolidation, with occupants on average at least 6 out of 10 rooms among the availability of accommodation exercises, on 2026 promises to grow for Italian tourism: the filling rate between January and April is already close to 50% in hotels and extra-hotel structures, driven by the growth of demand for tourists from Germany, France and Switzerland. This is what emerges from the latest investigation carried out by ISNART for Unioncamere and ENIT within the Observatory on the Economy of Tourism of the Chambers of Commerce.
As for the two great events hosted by our country in the two years 2025-2026, it is confirmed that the Jubilee has brought a clear increase of customers in Lazio (50% of the operators), with a long wave that has involved also the nearby Marche and Umbria (where 30% of the operators say “satisfied” for the results obtained thanks to the towing of the event). For the Winter Olympics of Milan-Cortina, waiting for the definitive data, the first estimates report a rate between 70% and 85% of rooms occupied for February; and early reservations around 60% for the following months, to demonstrate the long queue that the great events carry on the territory, creating value for the host destinations.
“The great events that see Italy protagonist on the international scene in this two years, are important opportunities for growth for the positioning of Italian destinations, with effects that will be evident in the medium-long period” adds Loretta Credaro, President Isnart- National Institute of Tourist and Cultural Research, “among the operators we perceive a general climate of confidence regarding visibility, and therefore the perspectives of economic return in the coming years of the investments realized, to the advantage of the whole tourist industry”. “From great events and events we expect a tourist return even on the medium long period. Travellers who choose certain destinations to follow appointments then return in the following years to visit the entire country,” says Ivana Jelinic, AD ENIT S.p.A.
“Italy is expressing all its potential at a tourist level, international travelers increasingly choose our destinations, contributing to the social and economic development of the territories and also of the internal areas.” “The great events, sports and non-sports, reconfirm a huge catalyst of tourist and economic flows and their propulsive effects are reverberated also in the growth of presences that, according to the predictive model of the Ministry of Tourism, are estimated in more than 100 million in the first four months of 2026,” said the Minister of Tourism Daniela Santanchè. “In addition, events such as the Olympics or the Jubilee act as a showcase that increases the visibility, notoriety and appeal of Italian destinations, as well as powerful attractors of investments and infrastructures for the benefit of territories and communities.”.
40% of the companies impacted by the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, in particular, point out that the event has already favoured an increase of visibility for its structure, with delays in terms of brand for the “Italian System”. From the investigations conducted directly to tourists on holiday from Unioncamere-Isnart, there are estimated almost 891 million total tourist presences in 2025, between official receptivity and parallel market of private homes, which activate on the territories an estimated economic impact in 108,8 billion euros, between accommodation expenses, catering, local transport and parking, shopping, recreational and cultural activities. It is confirmed the growth of foreign demand that constitutes 48% of the tourist flows, pairs approximately 431 million estimated attendance for 2025 in our destinations (+0.6% on 2024, +4,4% on 2023).
An international tourism that invests more than the past for travel and experiences in Italy: estimated 60 billion euros of tourist expenses on the holiday site (+3% on 2024, +34% on 2023) and an increase of budgets for restaurants, tastings and purchases of local products, museums and monuments, events and entertainment. The average daily expenditure on the territory for foreign tourists is 72 euros for accommodation and 105 euros for other expenses. The culture, for the fourth consecutive year, is the first motivation for visiting foreigners in our country (only moves 45% of these visitors), followed by food and wine tourism, tastings and restaurants of excellence (20%); third step of the podium for outdoor tourism.
It deserves to highlight how about 20% of foreign tourists declare to have used the AI to plan and organize the holiday in Italy ( logistic organization, choice of itineraries and activities to carry out, accommodation and restaurants). Compared to the recent holidays between Christmas and Epiphany, monitored thanks to location intelligence (mobile traffic analysis at destination), the presence of 5.9 million tourists in Italy was estimated, of which 2,3 million foreigners (68 thousand more than Christmas 2024), with a higher growth in Lazio and Umbria and in the mountain tourism destinations of Valle d’Aosta and Trentino-Alto Adige. On the alternative private housing market there are 6.7 million nights booked through the Airbnb portal for stays between March and June, slightly growing compared to last year (data from the AirDnA database), plus 4 million nights for summer stays in July and August 2026.
– Photo IPA Agency –
(ITALPRESS).
