Italian tourism can be at a serious loss, since earlier money “went with the Russians” into the country. This information was published in foreign media. Despite the fact that at the moment Italy looks “filled” with tourists – mostly short-term European trips, but the country still does not see the main solvent markets. We are talking about Russian tourists in the first place, as well as Americans and Chinese. It is they who, according to Italian experts, “are considered especially willing to spend money.”
“The prospect of a fresh start in the spring kept many companies alive,” they say. But the special operation and the subsequent sanctions shattered the last hopes for the return of the Russians. They are most regretted in Rimini, where our tourists accounted for up to 15% of the total load, followed by Rome and Venice. Wealthy Russians also “ran” from Sardinia after the mass sanctions – fearing arrests from the financial police, which “is very consistently confiscating Russian luxury goods, including villas and yachts, as part of EU sanctions against Russia.”
“The Italian tourism industry has struggled to cope with an 80% drop in sales in two years of the pandemic. Now we have lost the Russian market again. However, Americans and Europeans are now also canceling their trips to Italy for fear of political escalation,” says Ivana Jelinich, president of the industry association Fiavet-Confcommercio. As a result, Rome alone will lose about 150 million euros from tour sales.
“Our sector is in a severe crisis. Companies have run out of liquidity and can't even use recovery fund incentives, such as investment tax breaks,” says Jelinich. According to her, the current state of the industry can only be called “a story of desperation.”
“Hotel owners and luxury shops in Milan and Bologna were betting on the Orthodox celebration of Easter. On average, during this period, 175,000 overnight guests come from Russia, spending about 20 million euros. Nobody expects this this year,” the Italian expert complains. According to him, before the pandemic, Italy was slowly recovering, getting out of the crisis – but now the political situation may reverse all the progress made.
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