Trenitalia is conquering more and more foreign tourists, with North Americans in prominence, as the FS Group’s passenger hub grows.
This winter Trenitalia will operate 24,000 trains daily
The winter season - Winter Experience 2023-24 – which commenced in 10 December will consist of 24,000 national trains per day (by train and bus, in line with the growing intramodality trend) and 13,000 in Europe. In the first ten months of the year the Group handled over half a billion passengers (+20% compared to 2022), with 100 million in the summer alone. July and August were peak months for Frecciarossa (8 million passengers, +21% on 2022), Intercity (4 million passengers, +8% on 2022), and Regional (65 million passengers, +12% on 2022). The purchase of tickets via digital channels also surged by +31% compared to last year, driven by international buyers.
“This year we had an 80% increase in travellers from North America”
“This year we are witnessing a substantial increase, approximately +80%, in travellers from North America, said Pietro Diamantini, Trenitalia AV business director. -We are also focusing on the recently opened markets of South-East Asia, China, Korea, India, and Australia, areas which, for various reasons, reopened late due to Covid. Next year we expect further growth from North America: Italy is perceived as a safe country, with a railway service of great appeal. Some 67% of the tickets sold in North America are for business and executive class, which means we will make even more efforts to offer better service on board and on the ground.”
Trains are replacing flights on many routes
Luigi Corradi, CEO and director general of Trenitalia, added that passenger numbers for Europe are even more striking. “Until recently thinking of reaching Italy from Paris meant getting on a plane. Well, today the Paris-Milan route is practically full of French tourists. A sign that the use of the train even on long international routes is no longer in the future but already a reality.” Trenitalia operates 13,000 daily connections (train and bus) in Europe: from Spain (70 per day with Iryo), to France (10 with the Trenitalia France brand), and then Germany, Austria, and Switzerland with the 48 Eurocity and Euronight traains, Greece with Hellenic Train (400), the UK with Trenitalia UK (600), Holland with Qbuzz buses (over 9,000) and, again, Germany with Netinera (2,500).
