Perspectives on travel recovery: Italy

Impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Italian tourism market has dropped by nearly 55% between 2019 and 2020, and it is not expected to return to its pre-crisis level until 2024 (close to European average).

In terms of value, the market has lost more than half of its value in one year.

In detail, domestic expenditures has been the most resilient, even though it has declined by 42%: however both business and leisure segment should return to its pre-crisis level in 2023 (faster than other countries such as Spain, France or UK).

Due to a health situation that prevented travellers from moving from one country to another for many months, the inbound and outbound segments were more affected. Outbound expenditures dropped significantly between 2019 and 2020 and we will have to wait until 2024 to see the leisure segment recover pre-crisis levels. The business segment won’t recover until 2027. Inbound market trends are about the same than outbound.

Inbound tourism in Italy will not recover until 2025, while domestic tourism is likely to reach pre-COVID-19 levels in 2023.