Everyone knows that for generations Italy is an important destination for historical and cultural, artistic and culinary tourism.
NB: This is a guest article by Marco Vismara, founder of Lookals.
The latest numbers released by the Italian National Tourist Board Organisation have confirmed that tourism is growing in Italy, and that the sector is worth some Euro 70 billion per annum.
Although the numbers have not yet recovered to the levels seen before the financial crash in 2008, there has been a steady improvement since then, particularly inbound.
The industry needs to be aware that many things have changed since 2008. Italy is not the only destination facing up to the fact that visitors are more demanding, on a number of levels.
The traditional traveler’s profile is changing and one trend relevant to Italy is the desire to experience everyday Italy as well as its world-famous attractions.
Today's visitors are interested in a personalized experience - they are rejecting the prepackaged trip and opting instead for tailored offers to meet their specific interests.
Even the journey itself is now part of the trip, a complete experience in itself.
Online travel is the beneficiary of these trends - individuals are able to organize their own trips online rather than through traditional high street agents.
The online travel sector has outperformed the overall market since the 2008 crash, demonstrating an ability to adapt to the new factors at play in the tourism industry.
The major OTAs and other online players are now extremely active in Italy. Booking.com and Expedia are well established, while eDreams Odigeo has identified Italy as one of its three core markets for brands such as eDreams, Opodo and GoVoyages.
The sharing economy is also present in Italy, with Airbnb, Uber and HomeAway looking to take advantage of the trend towards personalisation, self-created trips to Italy.
But there are also some local players and international startups intent on making their presence felt:
Alongside ourselves, Italian entrepreneurs have created:
- Bluewago - a specialist agent focussing on boat holidays
- Wanderio - a global business, based in Italy, which allows users to plan and book multi-modal international journeys
And as a sign of how the Italian tourist industry is embracing the new age of tourism, Italy has its own industry association for travel startups,
StartUp Tourismo.
NB: This is a guest article by Marco Vismara, founder of Lookals.
NB2Venice image by Shutterstock.