Italy: Tourism Boom Boosts Summer GDP
According to the latest electronic invoicing data, the figures for reservations, airport arrivals, and room occupancy, in the first half of the year, accommodation and catering services have marked an increase in VAT by 66 per cent compared to the same period of 2021, AtoZSerwisPlus.comreports.
The recent data from The Italian National Institute of Statistics (Istat) has revealed that Italian tourism is worth about 6.4 per cent of GDP in its characteristic products and increases to over nine per cent when considering related industries such as shopping for travellers. In addition, its specific weight is significantly greater in the summer quarter.
From tourism, among the budgets that increased most are the municipal ones, where in the first seven months of 2022, the mayors collected €158.6 million from the tourist tax, with a 194 per cent jump compared to the same period of 2021.
Considering that the beginning of 2021 was still affected by the tourism pandemic in the first six months, the comparison gives +330 per cent, but even in July of this year, the increase was 37.6 per cent compared to the same month last year.
However, Italian tourism in 2022 is characterized by two important factors. The first is the tendency of Italians to choose their country as a holiday destination. A recent forecast by the retailers’ association Comfcommercio has revealed that out of 34.5 million Italians who have gone or will go on vacation choose a part of Italy as their destination.
On the other hand, the second incentive factor has to do with the return of international tourism.
According to ENIT and Assotorismo data, air bookings to Italy were +222 per cent compared to the same month of 2021, while in August, the increase was 202 per cent.
Moreover, the study of the retailers’ association Comfcommercio has shown that 2.2 million North Americans are expected to arrive in Italy between July and September with a total estimated expenditure of over €2.1 billion, which means more than 20 per cent compared to 2019.
Such data also revealed that Italy’s income from tourism is expected to reach €17 billion in income this summer.