TOP NEWS

🎭 Italian cultural tourism shines in 2025, with top visitors from Italy (34.8%, down 1%), Germany (6.8%), France (6.1%), UK (4.5%), and Spain (4.4%). Couples make up 45%, followed by families (29%), groups (14%), and singles (12%). Digital footprint dropped by 14% in 2024, from 10.7 million to 9.2 million pieces of content. Trevi Fountain's new walkway, opened in 2024, attracted 14,000 in its first weekend, collecting €4,600 for charity. The Museo Leonardo da Vinci in Florence outperformed known institutions, doubling its digital footprint in 2024. General sentiment for Italian cultural offerings scored 86/100, with cities like Florence, Milan, Rome, Venice, and Naples exceeding 90/100. Despite a slight dip in 2024 saturation, direct booking rates increased by 6-7%.

🎯 Italy is discussed as a shopping tourism destination at the 8th edition of Shopping Tourism forum organized by Risposte Turismo with Enit on February 28. Italian shopping tourism represents about 2% of total tourist arrivals, with high spending capacity. Outlet commercial space reached 750,000 sqm in 2024, a 4% increase from the previous year, and is expected to grow by 7% in 2025 with a new outlet in Rome. Via Montenapoleone in Milan leads in annual rental values at about €20,000 in 2024, up from 6th place in 2014. Over 70% of American shopping tourists travel more than once for shopping, with 31% doing so four or more times. 45% of these tourists also travel for special events like fashion weeks or Black Friday. 65% of U.S. tourists are interested in guided artisan workshop tours, while 61% are interested in food and wine product workshops.

🏖 Destination Italia integrated Trip Builder into Hubcore.AI, enhancing the operational and administrative efficiency of travel designers. This integration is expected to cut tailor-made processing time by 70%, improve response times, focus on sales rather than procedures, and increase the conversion rate by 20%. Additionally, it predicts a 10% increase in average transaction value, a 1% rise in profit margins, and a 10% reduction in operational costs. Hubcore.AI, now equipped with Trip Builder, offers a comprehensive tool that enriches proposals with high-margin experiential in-house products beyond just accommodation.

🏖️ Rovaniemi, Lapponia, experienced a 400% increase in flights in December over two years, with room rates reaching €370. Saudi Arabia surpassed 100 million tourists in 2023, a 12% increase over 2023 and 56% over 2019. Japan saw a 15% rise in visitors in 2024. Morocco attracted 17.4 million tourists in 2024, up 20%, leading African destinations. Brazil reported a 12.6% increase in international visitors in 2024, totaling 6.6 million.

🍴 The 20th edition of Identità Golose, founded in 2005 by Paolo Marchi and Claudio Ceroni, will take place in Milan from February 22 to 24. It will focus on contemporary culinary trends with renowned chefs and food industry leaders. The event will also emphasize hospitality, featuring the Cluster Hotellerie curated by Elisabetta Canoro, and will introduce new experiences like the Bar Experience and the Salone del Vino, across 13,000 square meters at the Mi.Co. Nord venue.

📌 Marriott Bonvoy's research predicts an optimistic travel scenario for Italians in 2025, with the number of trips expected to remain the same or increase compared to the previous year. Cleanliness ranks highest in influencing accommodation choice, deemed important by 96% and very important by 72% of respondents. Solutions like Chimiver's product range, including Velurex Cleaner Star for cleaning all types of hard surfaces, are influential. The cleaner is available in 1L to 25L containers and is pet-friendly, ensuring long-lasting cleanliness.

🏠 IHG acquired Ruby brand from Ruby SARL for an initial purchase price of €110.5 million. Ruby, established in 2013, currently operates 20 hotels (3,483 rooms) across major European cities with 10 more (2,235 rooms) in development expected to open within three years in cities including Edinburgh, Marseille, Rome, and Stockholm. Elie Maalouf, CEO of IHG Hotels & Resorts, anticipates expanding Ruby in Europe and introducing it to the Americas and Asia.

🏡 Palazzo Ripetta, a Relais & Châteaux hotel, became the first in Italy to receive reimbursement from the FRI-Tur fund following approval of the first State of Work Progress (SAL) for a project valued at 8 million euros. On January 10, Banca del Fucino issued 1.5 million euros to the Ginobbi Group for the hotel's upgrades. Overall, the bank reviewed around 70 projects, funding 26 with a total investment of 51 million euros. Funds were used for energy requalification, room renovation, furniture renewal, and digitalization enhancements.

🏕 Enit participates in two international events from today until February 23 to promote Italian tourism: the Belgrade International Tourism Fair and Munich's F.re.e. In 2024, Serbian tourist overnight stays in Italy exceeded 300,000, with a 15% increase in arrivals from 2023, and an average trip duration of 8 days. Germany remains Italy's top inbound tourism country with 14.8% market share, 10.6 million visitors, over 55 million overnight stays, and €7.4 billion spent in the first 9 months of 2024. For the first half of 2025, 1.2 million German passengers already booked trips to Italy.

⛰ Airbnb reveals top winter getaway destinations for Gen Z in Italy: Livigno (32% search increase), Madonna di Campiglio (30% increase), and Cortina d’Ampezzo (18% increase) compared to Winter 2024. Bormio follows with a 19% search rise. Young travelers prefer stays ranging from 2 to 6 days. Globally, Gen Z seeks lesser-known sunny cities and cultural events, with Brazil's Praia Grande and Porto Seguro experiencing a surge in youth travel in Winter 2025.