Italy has high expectations for 2025 as a surge in arrivals from China is anticipated after the number of Chinese travellers rose by 24.7% in 2024 over the previous year for a total of 176,000 arrivals. A figure that was, however, below pre-Covid levels, when arrivals were around 451,000 (Bank of Italy, ENIT data).
The ENIT report presented at the ITB China in Shanghai highlights the positive trend for the first months of 2025: between January and April, in fact, airport arrivals from China to Italy totalled 67,680, +2.2% compared to the same period in 2024. And for the next six months a further 27% growth is estimated compared to May-October 2024, with over 96% of arrivals related to tourism. In support of the ENIT estimates - which are still forecasts - one thing is certain: the numbers speak
clearly when it comes to investments in flights. In the first half of 2025 between Rome Fiumicino and the whole of Asia airlines will provide 1.27 million seats (in both directions), +6% compared to the first half of 2024 and +8% over the same period in 2019. Malpensa will make an even more evident leap with seats offered reaching 1.25 million in the first half of 2025, 33% more than in 2024 and 49% more than in 2019.
Milan Malpensa is the fourth airport in Europe (after Paris, London and Frankfurt) in terms of carriers and destinations connected with Asia and has the highest number of flights with China from our country: Beijing, Chengdu, Chongqing, Hong Kong, Nanjing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Wenzhou, Xian, Zhengzhou for 35 weekly flights. And that's not all: Trenitalia is betting on the potential of the Chinese market, given that in this first part of 2025 it has doubled its sales through distributors and channels in China compared to last year. Will 2025 be the year of the great return of Chinese tourists to Italy? Perhaps. And perhaps they will be younger, more digitally friendly and attracted by shopping, especially Italian fashions, but without losing sight of the art cities (which attract 70% of Chinese travellers). Of course, the full picture will only emerge at year’s end.
Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist
