TOP NEWS

🏃 Les Domaines de Fontenille, founded by Frédéric Biousse and Guillaume Foucher, has become a leader in experiential hospitality within eight years. As of 2023, the company is the first French hotel group to achieve Société à Mission status, emphasizing its commitment to social and environmental impact. With 11 properties across France, Spain, and Italy, and 10 opened in the last four years, the group exhibits robust growth. Upcoming projects include a renovation in Perros-Guirec for spring 2025 and a new five-star hotel in Aix-en-Provence for 2026, backed by investments from Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations since November 2023. CEO Linda Hazi oversees expansion, maintaining high environmental and heritage standards.

🏨 Valerio Ceccarelli, born in 1995, acquired his first hotel in 2021 and expanded to three boutique hotels by 2023, including Coronari Palace, Hotel Regno, and Hotel Dei Consoli, totaling 66 rooms. Under the Hannah Hotels Collection, the occupancy rate exceeds 95%, contributing to the nearly 2.2 million euros in turnover and a 183% increase from the previous year. With a 290% increase in profit and a projected revenue of approximately 3.4 million euros in 2024, the group anticipates a business turnover of six million euros by 2026, with a portfolio of 91 rooms. The new structure in Fabriano will add 25 rooms and a spa, aiming for an environmentally conscious certification by 2025.

🍕 Just Eat launched the 8th edition of its Observatory in 2024, focusing on Italian culinary habits, especially in Naples, a key player in food delivery. Naples' food delivery preferences feature pizza, hamburgers, desserts, Japanese cuisine, and poke, with pizza margherita as the top choice. Napoli offers affordable quality cuisine with an average order cost of €19.11, hamburgers at €8.06, and pizza Margherita at €5.30. New trends include poke, rotisserie, and healthy food, with late-night orders and weekends being the favored times for delivery.

✈ Wizz Air announces five new routes from Venice for summer 2025, starting in March, to Madrid, Barcelona, Athens, Sharm el Sheikh, and Budapest. A new Airbus A321neo will be added, doubling the Venice-based fleet for the season. Over 500,000 additional seats per year will increase capacity by nearly 80%, boosting Wizz Air's market share to 10% at Venice airport, becoming the second largest low-cost carrier there. Daily flights to Madrid and Barcelona, and three weekly flights to Sharm, Athens, and Budapest will be available. Existing Chisinau connection increases from three to four weekly flights. Since 2004, Wizz Air has transported over 90 million passengers to and from Italy.

🏖️ Luca Perfetto, CEO of Towns of Italy Group, launches the "Progetto Academy" in Florence, focusing on experiential tourism training. The project collaborates with CST and Hospitality Innovation Retreats, offering advanced courses for various professional profiles like tourist guides and tour operator managers. It aims to foster a new generation of highly qualified experts, providing internships, scholarships, and incorporating professional contributions to curricula, many in English, to enhance Italy's role in the sector. Simone Tani and Lara Pazzi are key contributors to this initiative.

🎓 In Rome, December 2024, the Associazione Parchi Permanenti Italiani, representing around 250 national parks, expresses concern over bureaucratic hurdles from the new Procurement Code affecting school trips and summer camps. The issues with micro procurement under €140,000 remain unaddressed since the exemption expired on September 30. These regulations could jeopardize activities for approximately 600,000 youths and a €15 million park revenue plus additional indirect income for the 2025 season. The Association urges ANAC for an exemption for school-related micro procurements up to €5,000.

🍬 Italia Zuccheri, a cooperative of beet growers active for over 60 years, partners with Autogrill, a leader in traveler dining. The collaboration aims to transform sugar into a symbol of quality and commitment. Autogrill, with over 88 million coffees sold annually, supports Italian agriculture and sustainability by using Italia Zuccheri's 100% Italian beet sugar in all its Italian locations. Italia Zuccheri covers about 10% of the national sugar needs and promotes a cultural heritage of beet cultivation.

🎄 On December 6th at Anantara Convento di Amalfi Grand Hotel, a “Biodiversity Tree” was lit marking the Christmas season, symbolizing the beauty and history of the Amalfi Coast. The tree, designed in collaboration with ACARBIO (Amalfi Coast Biosphere Reserve Association) since 2009, promotes local natural and cultural heritage preservation and biodiversity education. The tree is sectioned into "Sea," "Land," and "Sky," each symbolizing various aspects of the Amalfi Coast’s landscape. General Manager Estelle Vassallo presented a €14,000 check to ACARBIO during the lighting ceremony. Anantara's “Dollars for Deeds” program matches €1 per guest per night, doubling the donation to €2. The hotel hosts a Christmas market, special performances, and offers local experiences and treatments, including a handmade "Panettone Dei Cappuccini" and local ingredient-based spa treatments.

🏆 29% of travelers seek adventure on vacations, particularly Europeans. Over 88% want to spend as much or more on life experiences in the future, with 60% specifically referencing travel and tourism. New destinations interest has surged by 57% over five years, with the top 250 cities seeing a 5% average increase in visitors and spending up by 20%, compared to a 15% rise in popular cities. Cultural experiences, including concerts and sports, drive tourism growth, with the sports tourism market growing by 10% annually. In the U.S., 65% of Gen Z and 27% of Baby Boomers are keen to attend a major event more than 50 miles from home within a year, with 58% of Millennials and 43% of Gen X sharing this interest. The live concert and entertainment industry is worth $133 billion and supports 913,000 jobs in the U.S. alone.

🌍 Amadeus Travel Trends 2025 report identifies five trends reshaping travel in the coming year: nostalgia travel, personalized flight experiences with Wi-Fi and VR, hotels as destinations offering local culture immersion, the tourism boom in Asia influenced by ease of entry and pop culture, and a return to offline human connections over digital interactions. Emphasis on Millennials and Gen Z, with a focus on happiness and past experiences. Luxury air travel includes ultra-fast Wi-Fi, 5G, and VR. (For more information: https://amadeus.com/en/resources/research/travel-trends)