Bernabò Bocca, president of the Italian hotels association Federalberghi, says that public funding can often leave larger hotel companies out on a limb.
“When an entrepreneur tries to grow the aid disappears”
It’s no secret that Italy’s hotel system suffers from excessive fragmentation, and Federalberghi’s president recently pointed out that public funding tends to support SMEs. "Public subsidies and funding are most reserved for small and medium-sized-enterprises. When the size increases, there is nothing left, and when an entrepreneur tries to grow, instead of getting support for his or her efforts and investments, the aid disappears. This complicates things for Italian hotels which are grappling with increasingly fierce international competition.”
The need for change of use on Versilia’s seafront
Bocca also focused on the problem of permits and licenses for modernizing properties. "Our municipal administrations are very generous when it comes to granting permits for new openings, but less so when it is for a change of use. Take the case of the Versilia region for example. The seafront has a plethora of pensions and boarding houses, but a shortage of apartments. Why not think about converting at least part of the existing properties into a more up-to-date residential product?”
Hotels are counting on a return of travellers from the Far East
Bocca concluded on a positive note, saying that this year’s aim is to exceed the pre-Covid levels of 2019. “We already come close in 2022, albeit with the first three months still affected by the Omicron variant, and this year we also count on seeing a return of travellers from the Far East.”
