TOP NEWS

🏠 International visitors' spending in Italy represents a key growth factor for the domestic offline retail market, with one in five purchases (worth 240 billion euros total) made by foreign travel shoppers, who demonstrate a higher economic vitality than domestic consumers (+5.6% for Europeans, +3% for non-Europeans, vs. 0.4% for Italians). These travelers favor discretionary shopping in sectors like fashion & clothing (24 billion euros), perfume & cosmetics (11 billion), leather goods & bags (7 billion), and watches & jewelry (6 billion). In 2024, excluding accommodation costs, tourists' total spending is estimated at approximately 54 billion euros, a 5% increase from 2023, with 26% attributed to shopping, up by 10.6% from 2023. There's a significant correlation between tourism influx, shopping expenditure, and Italian exports, exemplified by the 30% of fashion & clothing exports to the US, corresponding to 48% of targeted spending in Italy by American tourists.

📈 Belinda Coccia, Commercial Director at Futura Vacanze, reflects on the company's performance, which mirrors the trends of 2024, with excellent early 2025 results boosted by early booking strategies. A slowdown followed, except for the Red Sea region where Egypt showed surprising numbers. Futura Vacanze's 2025 target includes a 30% revenue share from foreign markets, aiming to double revenues from Egypt compared to 2024. Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2025, the company crossed a revenue threshold of over 100 million euros, envisioning a significant growth over the next five years and strengthening its management team. ????

📈 Adalte reports significant growth in early 2025, with bookings through its platform in January and February equaling half of all 2024 bookings. CEO Davide Galleri highlights partner growth. Since January, 27 new tour operators from 10 countries have joined, mainly using Community.Travel tools. South America leads in new active channels, notably Argentina and Mexico. The Italian market remains a focus, with Imperatore Travel, a renowned Italian brand, newly collaborating with Adalte. Tania Patalano, CPO of Imperatore Travel, anticipates increased bookings and customer base expansion through this partnership.

🐶 Club del Sole acquires Roseto degli Abruzzi Easy Camping Village in Abruzzo, showcasing a strong dog-friendly approach, designed with Dog-in Dog-out for exclusive pet services, including a Dog Pool and Dog Spray Park. The operator now totals 27 villages across 8 Italian regions, offering over 9,000 housing solutions. CEO Francesco Giondi highlights a broader development plan with 7 new facilities since 2024 and ongoing investments, aiming to provide nature, comfort, and freedom year-round.

🏘 Outdoor hospitality spaces blur the indoor-outdoor divide, providing all-season comfort with bioclimatic pergolas, mood lighting, and high-tech surfaces. Wellness areas feature integrated pools and spas. Pratic's Opera bioclimatic design evolves with Set, a modular deck that compensates for ground unevenness, customizable with any outdoor flooring. Its adjustable slats (0-140 degrees) ensure sustainable comfort, and Glass Series panoramic windows protect from elements, making spaces welcoming year-round.

📱 Serenissima Informatica partnered with Planet and the protel Solution Partner Network at ITB Berlin, a key event focusing on advanced cloud technologies, digital tools, and innovative strategies for the hospitality industry. Alessandro Calligaris, Marketing Director, stressed ITB Berlin's strategic value for showcasing solutions and reinforcing partnerships. Nicolas Ongarato, Hospitality Solutions Specialist, highlighted the importance of industry dialogue to address the needs of professionals such as hotel managers and IT heads. The company promotes cloud solutions like protel Cloud PMS, emphasizing the shift toward more flexible, secure, and integrated hotel management systems.

🏖️ In Piemonte, 2024 saw a record tourism year with over 6.28 million arrivals and 16.89 million overnight stays, marking a 3.6% and 4.1% increase from 2023. International visitors, accounting for 53% of total overnight stays, rose by 5%, with a notable 12% increase from the USA and 36% from China. Domestic tourism also flourished, supported by a 57.3% increase in rooms and 55.1% increase in beds over the last decade. Tourist rentals surged by 42.2% between 2023 and 2024, while non-hotel accommodations grew by 4.9%. Piemonte's online reputation scored 87.6 out of 100, reflecting high-quality hospitality and regional efforts to enhance the tourism industry. Regional officials, including Marina Chiarelli and Alberto Cirio, emphasize the importance of training in the tourism sector and maintaining high standards.

🍰 Selezione Centro-Sud di EmergentePastry 2026 concluded at Dolce&Salato school, Maddaloni, Caserta, with four finalists announced for the National Final in autumn. Contestants, under-30 professionals, prepared a plated dessert, a baked dessert, and two types of finger food, using sponsors' ingredients. Special awards: "best chocolate plated dessert" to Giusy Persico (Il Buco, Sorrento, Campania), "best baked dessert" to Sara Mazzolini (INEO, Anantara Palazzo Naiadi Rome Hotel, Roma, Lazio), "best leavened" to Barbara Pia Ruscinito (Lombardi Pasticcieri, Maddaloni, Campania).

📈 Italy's hospitality sector enters the post-luxury era, with opportunities expanding beyond exclusive 5-star accommodations. In 2024, the total transaction value reached approximately €1.8 billion, involving about 80 deals. Among them, high-value transactions (over €20 million) accounted for 80% of the total, numbering 30. Repositioning, which involves the acquisition and upgrading of existing hotels, dominated 65% of investments. Half of the investments maintained a luxury orientation. Investment interest is shifting from traditional art cities to areas like Lake Como (€180 million in 2024 with 4 operations), Sicily, Sardinia, and Puglia, indicating a gradual change in appeal and structure type. Hotel management agreements and owner-operator models represent 40% and 30% of the market, respectively.

🏨 JLL's Global Hotel Investment Outlook projects a 15%-25% increase in global hotel investments by 2025 compared to 2024. Despite complex macroeconomic conditions, the hotel sector shows resilience with global demand reaching 4.8 billion overnight stays in November 2024, 102 million more than in 2023, and a 4% RevPar growth. While Asia-Pacific is 10% behind 2019 levels, Americas, Europe, and Middle East have fully recovered with RevPar growth between 17%-26%. In 2024, global hotel investment volumes hit $57.4 billion, a 7% rise from the previous year but below historic levels due to fewer portfolio transactions and smaller deal sizes. Italy saw €1.7 billion (around €2 billion including property conversions) invested in 2024, with luxury hotel conversions in markets like Rome being key transactions since 2019. The 2025 outlook anticipates a significant investment increase, driven by debt restructuring, investment plans for competitive upgrades, and exit timelines for recent private equity deals. Luxury and service sectors remain most attractive to investors, with increased foreign investment expected, particularly from the Middle East and American private investors targeting Europe and select U.S. cities.