It's resort time. Following years during which institutional investors shied away from properties considered excessively volatile and complex for their excessive dependence on seasonality, capital is now eagerly eyeing leisure properties in Italy. To tell the truth, the phenomenon has been gaining traction for some time but Giampiero Schiavo, citing Ey data, explains that in 2023 “transactions for resorts reached as high as 46% of total hotel investments.” Speaking at the Milan Hospitality Forum organized by Scenari Immobiliari in collaboration with Castello sgr, Schiavo who is managing director of the latter, pointed out that Tuscany has attracted 33% of the capital invested in leisure facilities, Lombardy 20%, Sicily 13%, Liguria 10% and Sardinia 6%.
According to the Report on the hotel real estate market by Scenari Immobiliari presented at the Milan event, in general in 2023 the value of transactions in the sector reached €1.4 billion (down from €1.7 billion in 2022). However, the hospitality real estate sector has exhibited robust dynamism, remaining substantially at the historical levels of the last decade, if we exclude the record 2019 and the post-Covid 2020.
What's more, in 2023 the volume of transactions made by Italian investors - as has happened only rarely in the past - exceeded that of international capital which came mainly from France and the United Kingdom, with about a quarter from non-European countries. The profiles of the main investors are those of family offices, hotel operators and private equity, the first two representing the main component of Italian players.
This is a substantially positive stage,- concluded Mario Breglia, president of Scenari Immobiliari. -However, we cannot overlook the fact that hospitality is worth around $10 trillion globally, equal to almost 10% of the world's GDP. Understandably many would like to get their hands on this slice of the pie, so it is vital to be ready and organize supply in all sectors. In short, we need to create an entire economic system that really understands what it means to network.
Massimiliano Sarti
Journalist
