In spite of the crisis and the Mayans, the Italians don't give up on the end-of-year holidays. Maybe they shorten them (the average duration is 4 days), they certainly book them well in advance to spend less (advance booking in this period exceeds the last minute), over half of them (54%) now travel with low cost airlines and the hotels chosen are almost only 3-star, but they start all right. AND they choose, never like this year, the nearby and cheap Europe. Even better if the romantic Paris or the Olympic London, with the first in the lead in the "flight + hotel" ranking (7% of preferences) and the second favorite destination overall (airline bookings only) with 14% of the choices ahead in the Ville Lumière, and then, well apart, in Amsterdam, Berlin and Madrid. Otherwise, however declining, the sea hypothesis still remains, but only with very convenient holiday packages for tropical paradises or with a cruise in the Mediterranean or in the Red Sea. And Italy with its cities of art and its ski season? No, it's out this year.
To draw the picture is the Volagratis Observatory, the Bravofly Rumbo Group portal which draws up analyzes on the basis of 26 million searches carried out on the site every month Volagratis.com and the other sites of the group. According to estimates, therefore, almost two out of three Italians (62%) have chosen Europe for the upcoming holidays, while a year ago they had been 40%. Instead, only 28% will spend them in Italy, when twelve months ago they were almost double (49%), while long-haul destinations drop slightly to 10%, compared to 11% in 2011.
Among the capitals of the Old Continent, in addition to the confirmation for the two queens London and Paris, an unexpected rejection arrives for Barcelona, which falls from third to eighth place in the ranking of preferences, while quotations rise, thanks to the particularly cheap prices, of the Eastern Europe. The biggest surge is recorded by Prague and Budapest (+107% and +120%), which coincidentally are the ones that offer the best price ever for the travel+hotel package: 300 euros per person, according to the average of the various offers applied during the period. A curiosity: in the face of Euroscepticism, the city that has seen its tourist volumes grow the most over the past year is surprisingly Brussels, the capital of Belgium and seat of the European Commission: +130%.
Going instead out of Europe New York stands out overwhelmingly (22%) followed by the much milder climates of Dubai (5,7%), Marrakech (4,2%), Bangkok (4%), Miami (3,5%). And where do foreign tourists go? French neighbors crown in first place Italy for the Christmas and New Year holidays (12% of travelers will visit Italy, with Venice and Rome in pole position), while of the 86% of Germans who will leave their borders for holidays, "only" 10% have chosen the boot. It may be due to the resounding defeat at the European football championships or the mutual "sympathy" between Silvio Berlusconi and Angela Merkel, but perhaps this year the Chancellor's fellow citizens have preferred a change of scenery.
