Inflation is weighing on the Italian winter season, which is risking a drop in overall tourist spending. According to the most recent data processed by the Demoskopika research institute, the coming months should in fact see a drop in arrivals: just over 23.2 million and almost 72 million overnight stays. A slump of 6.1% and 0.4% respectively compared to the same period last year, which had 25 million arrivals and just under 72.2 million overnight stays. There will also be repercussions on tourist spending which is expected to be cut by more than €1.3 billion. 

There are numerous reasons for this, including price trends, with tourism inflation estimated to show a tendential growth of 1.8%, for an inflationary differential equal to one percent more than the change in the general index calculated by ISTAT at 0.8%. Yet inbound tourism is substantially stable compared to last season with +0.5% arrivals and -0.6% overnight stays. The problem is that over 60% of international visitors are concentrated in just a few regions, with Veneto and Lazio at the top of the pile.

"One of the things that must be done to avoid a backslide,- suggests Demoskopika president Raffaele Rio, - is a more adequate and strategic distribution of visitors over the entire country, increasing the level of internationalization and reducing overtourism.”

So while it is true that Italy has a fair balance between Italian (51.4%) and foreign (48.6%) arrivals, the majority of international tourists head mainly to only six of Italy’s 20 regions: Veneto (64.3%), Lazio (62.1%), Trentino Alto Adige (55.7%), Tuscany (54.2%), Lombardy (54%) and Friuli Venezia Giulia (52.5%).

Massimiliano Sarti
Journalist

For the first time in Italy, and in the Marche region, a group of US agents discovered the unexpected in Senigallia.

The food, the sea, the cities, the people…this is a great destination!

Jim Cloonan
And they are discovering a destination they didn’t expect. The occasion is the fam trip and workshop now taking place in Senigallia and organized by the Travelshow Marketing Group, in collaboration with the city's municipality and American Bellavista Mediterranean Tours. "We organize events of this kind all over the world, but this is our first time in Italy,- says Travelshow Marketing president, Jim Cloonan. -We are here to introduce agents to the city of Senigallia and its region. It is an alternative to the classical destinations only because there is no major airport nearby. You have to land in Bologna or Rome and then take the train or some other fantastic means of transport! Everyone is really enthusiastic: the food, the sea, the cities, the people…this is a great destination!”

“The Marche enriches and provides emotions”

The event has been strongly supported by the local administration, which aims to boost what the destination has to offer on an international level. “We are also committed to showing the world a different Senigallia, one that is not just sea and beaches - says mayor Massimo Olivetti,  -The idea is to interact with the Marche which is a region that enriches and provides emotions. We have wonderful natural attractions and there is our history, which needs to be reassessed and rediscovered. Then there is the professionalism of our operators at every level. Suffice it to say that we have two starred chefs in the city, and our industry players are always ready to improve what they have to offer, by making investments and constantly boosting their levels of service.”

From the fascinating itineraries of the 18th-century Grand Tour to the present day, Hotel Scapolatiello in Cava de’ Terreni, which lies in a beautiful green valley above the Amalfi Coast, has preserved the traditions of the family that down the generations has contributed to its enhancement.  

The hotel, located in the old medieval village of Cava de' Tirreni and just 10 minutes by car from the motorway exit, was built in 1821 not far from the Benedictine Abbey that dates back to 1011. Guests are won over by its delicious cuisine, family atmosphere, and a landscape so relaxing and fascinating that it has attracted travellers and artists since the 1800s. Today at the property’s helm the father and son team Cesare and Giuseppe Scapolatiello are the fifth and sixth generations of the family, and with true passion and deep commitment they continue to write the history of this wonderful establishment. 

Cesare and Giuseppe Scapolatiello

The hotel's strategic position makes it possible to easily visit Pompeii and Herculaneum, to admire the tradition of Vietri’s ceramics, to relax in the sun of Amalfi, or to discover the nature and the many trails of the Monti Lattari Park, all this while enjoying the tranquility and relaxation of a unique structure with many services. Set in a park of over 4,000 sqm with panoramic terraces directly overlooking the Lattari Mountains, the nearby Benedictine Abbey of Cava de' Tirreni, is a place where history and serenity come together in harmony, a medieval village where time seems to stand still and which is just waiting to be explored.

Hotel Scapolatiello is also located on the legendary Alta Via dei Lattari trail, which is almost 90 kilometres long and crosses the Lattari Mountains from Cava de’ Tirreni to Punta Campanella, the headland that looks across the Medieterrean waters to the island of Capri. This first section of the trail leads to the Sanctuary of the Madonna Avvocata sopra Maiori located at an altitude of almost 1,000 metres asl and overlooking the Amalfi Coast. This is a wonderful experience for both experienced trekkers and for professional team building. In addition, Hotel Scapolatiello immerses its guests in an ambience of peace and harmony with yoga at sunset, embraced by the magic of the centuries-old park while the hotel’s genuine Mediterranean cuisine is an introduction to the best of traditional Italian flavours.    

The performance of luxury hospitality in Italy is consolidating. While waiting to know this year's numbers, Giorgio Ribaudo, managing director of the consulting firm Thrends, recently presented a preview of the now traditional report on Italy's high-end hotels’ performance. And the numbers by sector are, as always, more than flattering. If the overall hotel turnover in 2022 was around €22 billion, the 5-star segment was able to generate as much as 28.5% of this, equal to €6.3 billion, despite the fact that luxury hotels in Italy have just 4.1% of rooms, for a total of 668 properties and 44,768 keys. But if the weight of the high-end segment on the overall turnover of Italy’s hôtellerie clearly lies in the high room rates, current operating margins are also interesting, averaging 22.9% for 5-star hotels. 

Driving the sector's performance, as always, were the international markets, with 73% of the total, just below the 74% of the pre-Covid 2019 year. The main foreign markets were the US (26%), followed by Germany (16%), the UK (10%), Switzerland and Lichtenstein (7%), and France (6%). In terms of location most Italian luxury hotels are in Tuscany, followed by Latium, Campania, Veneto and Lombardy. The ranking by city is unsurprisingly dominated by the so-called Big 4 with Rome in pole position for the number of 5-star rooms, followed by Milan, Venice and Florence. Thrends estimates that at least two 5-star hotels will open in Italy every month this year with 23 total openings on the drawing board, followed by 45 in 2024 and 29 in 2025. Once again Rome is in the hot seat with 14 hotels in the pipeline between now and 2027, followed by Milan with six, and Venice, Arzachena in Sardinia and Cortina d'Ampezzo with three each.

Massimiliano Sarti
Journalist

Falkensteiner is to open anew 97-room 5-star hotel, on the 4.5-hectare site of the former Tavani waterworks in Salò, on Lake Garda.

The hotel and 96 apartments will be ready in June 2025

In collaboration with architect Matteo Thun, the 5-star will be built on land acquired during the Covid period by the South Tyrolean group. It will be flanked by 170 premium-living serviced apartments, also completely furnished by Matteo Thun. "Work should start this autumn, with the first phase of the project (costing €140 million) expected to be completed in June 2025 and in the summer the hotel and the first  96 apartments will be available. The premium-living apartments project is essential for the economic sustainability of the entire project,” said FMTG Group CEO Otmar Michaeler.

“Generalist hospitality has no future, the key to success lies in specialization”

"In Italy, the first development was at the Falkensteiner Jesolo where the apartments have now all been sold. For Salò 20% of the available stock has already been pre-purchased," said the chairman of FMTG’s supervisory board Erich Falkensteiner. With F&B outlets and the wellness concept Acquapura Spa, the resort will primarily target the adults-only segment and families. "Generalist hospitality has no future,- said Falkensteiner, -today, the key to success lies in specialization. It is an approach that guarantees, among other things, a specific identity for each of our properties, generating added value.”

Bolzano and Licata are the next Falkensteiner openings

The Falkensteiner Group’s next steps include the opening of the 113-room 4-star Hotel Bozen in Bolzano in 2024, and the 160-room 5-star Hotel Licata in Sicily. "We are constantly looking for new opportunities,- said Erich Falkensteiner -but we remain focused on leisure destinations. We are looking with particular interest at the sea in Tuscany, Apulia, Sicily, Sardinia and Calabria. Our objective is to consolidate our identity as a regional brand, without competing with the large international chains in the urban centres.”

Ambitious plans for further growth

At a group level the year got off to a very good start with a +15% average occupancy up to April. Then, with the drop recorded in almost all sectors of tourism, the growth trend weakened somewhat, settling at +7-8% compared to the same period in 2022: "There is the inflation issue, which undermines people's purchasing power,- says Falkensteiner. -And then there is the competition from Turkey, which has devalued its currency, making its destinations particularly competitive. If at the end of the year we manage to maintain 2022 levels I would be happy.” In terms of turnover the company closed the last 12 months at €230 million, around ten million above budget. "For 2023 the goal is to increase by a further 10%,” said Falkensteiner. 

This has not been a summer to remember. At least not the way many expected after a sparkling start to the year. Inflation, the heat and the flooding in Romagna weighed particularly heavily on the final balance. That said, it wasn’t a total disaster, thanks chiefly to the substantial resurgence in international interest that packed the streets of our art cities. This is the initial evaluation of the high season from Assohotel Confersercenti on a survey by Florence’s Tourism Studies Centre and a sample of 1,449 hoteliers.

The negative part, over the same period in 2022, was that domestic demand posted a sharp drop of -5.7%, while foreign visitors increased by 3.6%. So all told, summer 2023 should close with a 1.4% decline in overnight stays. In absolute terms the number of tourists in Italy registered in Italian accommodation facilities were around 50.5 million, for a total of 207 million overnights, which is three million fewer than last year.

There was a sharp drop in the number of visitors to seaside resorts (-3.2%), as well as to rural and hillside areas (-3.1%), but good growth was reported in the art cities (+2.7%). Lake and mountain destinations remained the same, but there was also a decline in spa tourism. The markets that registered significant growth were France, Holland, the US and Poland. There was also a slight increase in arrivals of tourists in Italy from the Czech Republic, Belgium, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Hungary, Spain and the United Kingdom. Tourists from Brazil, Germany, Scandinavia, South Korea and Israel remained stable, while Indian, Austrian, Chinese and Japanese arrivals dwindled.

Massimiliano Sarti
Journalist

The Romeo Collection plans to expands on the Amalfi Coast after its Romeo Rome, scheduled for next October.

The new Romeo Collection, named after the founder of the Neapolitan company, has announced further development with the Romeo Napoli designed by Kenzo Tange, then the Romeo Roma by Zaha Hadid and finally the Romeo Massa Lubrense, designed by Kengo Kuma. Three architectural stars for three different interpretations: from the hi-tech modernism of Tange to the parametric architecture of Zaha Hadid, to the sensitivity of the artefact as a landscape-natural graft from Kuma.

Alfredo Romeo's company will unveil the details of the new Roman property this coming autumn. The hotel will be the result of the conversion of the 16th-century Palazzo Capponi on Via Ripetta. All 74 rooms and suites (some on the mezzanine floor are entirely frescoed) will be custom-made by craftsmen using precious traditional Italian materials.The rooms range in size from an average of 42 sqm to the 155 sqm of the Romeo suites on the top floors with private terraces overlooking the rooftops of Rome, as well as a Turkish bath, emotional shower, sauna, vitamin C shower and state-of-the-art facilities.

The Alain Ducasse Restaurant, with the world's most starred chef, will feature a show kitchen with sculptural works by Zaha Hadid. Il Napoletano, on the other hand, will allow an exploration of Neapolitan traditions and a rediscovery of authentic flavours with a twist of innovation. Another culinary option will be the pizzeria located in the Courtyard, with lava stone flooring, amidst sculptural works by Marc Kostabi and Christian Leperino. In the Terrazzino, an outdoor space on the first floor, a wall-mounted work by Ugo Nespolo reinterpreting Piazza del Popolo provides a backdrop for events, presentations and a lounge bar. Finally, the Sisley Paris Spa located on the ground floor adjoining the fitness centre, all by Technogym, will provide the opportunity to be pampered with special treatments, as well as offering a relaxation area with Sicilian rock salt walls and an indoor pool with a screen positioned in the back wall that will host video art. The spa will also feature a Finnish sauna, an emotional shower and a Turkish bath.

While hotel investments are slowing down, the post-Covid tourism recovery is proceeding at a pace exceeding all expectations: an apparent paradox that can be explained by the simultaneous rise in inflation, which pushes up interest rates, convincing investors to adopt a wait-and-see attitude. But a reversal seems to be looming.  

And it could be brought about by another apparent paradox: the global economic slowdown predicted by many analysts (-0.4% and -0.3% are the estimates for the fourth quarter in the US and the eurozone, according to an Anima sgr processing of Haver Analytics data. Ed.) 

"The big surprise of 2022 was the sustained growth of the economy, especially in Italy,- says Fabio Fois, head of investment research at Anima. – This was unexpected but certainly positive, though it clearly left the central banks alone to fight rising inflation. And so interest rates inevitably went up.” This means that a moderate slowdown could actually be good news for real estate investments, hotel transactions included, as it could stop inflation from getting out of hand and help bring credit costs down to acceptable levels for transactions that often require significant amounts of leverage.

“In both the US and Europe,- warns Fois,  - asset price growth indices have already retraced to pre-Covid levels, though there is still pressure on service prices despite falling energy costs.”

An eventual economic slowdown, he added, would wipe out the empathy factor that is preventing inflation from falling at the desired pace.