The stubbornness of the crisis also leaves its mark on one of the driving sectors of our economy: tourism. The 2012 final balance and 2013 forecasts are clear: fewer tourists from abroad, fewer Italians staying in hotels, a drop of 3 billion in turnover, 10 workers left without a job.
The figures: 2012 recorded a contraction of -2,5% in hotel presences between Italians and foreigners. This meant a unitary loss of 7 million hotel nights, which combined with the parallel drop in related industries and the generic slowdown in rates generated an estimated drop for the sector of 3 billion euros in turnover and a decrease in 10% of the turnover of accommodation companies only.
And the fallout on employment was heavy: 2012 closed with a 3% decrease in employed workers, quantifiable in the hotel sector alone at 10 units and something like 60 at the aggregate level of the sector. In particular, in the segment of permanent hotel workers, the annual figure was -3,1% with peaks ranging from -1,1% in January to -4,8% in October. For fixed-term hotel workers, the annual figure was -2,8% with peaks reaching -6% in December.
And the data, also with the "minus" sign on the trend of the ski holidays, suggest an equally crisis-filled Easter. “Speaking of tourism, 2013 is starting off in an extremely worrying way for one of the few economic sectors which, despite everything, continues to produce turnover and employment”, underlines the president of Federalberghi, Bernabò Bocca. “The drop in hotel presences recorded by Italians (compared to January 2012) - continues Bocca - equal to -9,6%, which clearly reflects the crisis in household consumption, is added to a slight decrease in hotel presences by foreigners equal to '1,1%”.
And the new year also records, in terms of hotel workers, "a figure in free fall of -5,4% in January (compared to January 2012), with a drop of 4,5% for permanent workers and a debacle of -7% for fixed-term workers”, remarked Bocca.
In an attempt to give new breath to the tourism-hotel sector, Federalberghi indicates some priorities: the launch of promotional initiatives to guarantee greater tourist flows, preferential credit lanes to ensure that liquidity essential for carrying out the entrepreneurial activity and specific measures on the labor market All under the coordination of a ministry of tourism with portfolios. Bocca also goes into the details: "Tax breaks from the Imu to Tares, simplifications for access to credit, massive promotion towards countries with strong economies of the destination Italy, drastic reduction in labor costs, as well as a strategic plan that can ensure a certain recovery to tourism”.
