That summer 2017 was a success for tourism in Italy is now a fact: dragged along by the economic recovery, by the great heat and by the crisis of other European destinations for reasons such as the fear of terrorism (see Spain and France), the tourist industry of the Belpaese has returned to its former glory, with a remarkable growth for all destinations, from the sea to the mountains, e a business that has overall exceeded 22 billion, with over 200 million visitors to our facilities. The data processed by the CartaSi Purchasing Observatory, the most complete observation tool on digital payments (credit card and online) with its 3 million daily surveys, also tell us that spending by Italians during the summer holidays (June -August) it grew by 6% compared to the previous year in all the product categories linked to tourism, from hotels to restaurants, from flights to rentals, from recreational activities to fuel costs.
MORE EXPENDITURE – Digital transactions, both physical (payment by credit card) and online (e-commerce), have grown in tourism more than in other sectors (where the figure is +4,1%) and have reached an overall value that exceeds 10 billion euros and constitutes 36,3% of total card spending in the quarter under review. In the month of June alone, again considering activities related to tourism, the figure was +7,5%. In short, tourism has exploded and with it digital payments, in a country still too accustomed to favoring cash.
ONLINE PAYMENTS BOOM – In particular, the summer of 2017 was that of e-commerce boom, i.e. online payments, increased by 11,6% according to data from CartaSì, the credit card circuit capable of providing a statistically significant sample of all transactions. There are 3 billion euros spent by Italians on the web in the summer that has just ended, with a real exploits above all of the hotels, which have in fact doubled the figure compared to last year (+96,9%), but also of restaurants (+22.2%), rental services (+20,5%) and recreational activities (+14,6%). Only airline bookings are down, perhaps due to fear of terrorism, but transport in general marks a +15% and transactions with travel agencies are far from obsolete: +12,7%.
ITALY IS BACK IN FASHION… – Another curiosity that emerges is that Italians are spending more and more with digital tools (especially online) and are spending again in Italy: according to Federalberghi of the 34,4 million Italian citizens who moved from June to September (+3,2% compared to 33,3 million in 2016), 78,6% chose Italy (74,6% in 2016), and of the 10,7 billion drawn by Carta Sì almost two thirds are spent in Italy, even if overall expenditure abroad is growing at a faster rate (+6,7%) than those made at home (+5,6%). The difference, however, lies in the prevalence of foreign operators on web channels: in the physical world (payment by card on site) growth remains the exclusive prerogative of expenditure in Italy (+5,0% against -0,2%), in expenditure towards Abroad, on the other hand, e-commerce grew by 12,5% (by 10,2% in Italy) and accounts for 57,6% of the total of 3,9 billion euros spent outside our borders.
… EVEN AMONG FOREIGNERS – The positive data doesn't stop there. In fact, spending by foreign tourists in Italy is also on the rise: +16% on average, and this too the primacy is of the Germans, who are the most present and also those who spend the most, considering traceable payments. Tourists arriving from Germany spent almost 24% more this summer in the various Italian tourist resorts and represent 15% of the total expenditure of foreigners in Italy, followed by the British (14% of the total and an increase of 13,5% ) and unfailingly by the Americans (11,9% and +16,4%). The French cousins are also doing well, spending 11% more and now representing almost a tenth of foreign turnover in Italy during the summer. The boom, in terms of percentage growth, they do Russians, Brazilians, Poles and Czechs with increases of more than 30%.
TUSCANY TOP, MILAN BOOM, ROME FLOP – The destinations where people spent the most are the usual: Tuscany commands with 16,3% of the total, Milan and Lake Como lead Lombardy in second place with 15,9% (and a record growth of 35,4% ), then Veneto and Lazio, even if Rome's appeal crisis is also confirmed by the Observatory of CartaSì: in the region of the Capital, foreign tourists spend a tenth of what they spend overall in Italy, but the figure dropped by a fifth compared to 2016. The Marches are the exploit with +76% and even the forgotten Molise emerges: the percentage of expenditure in Campobasso and surroundings is still less than 0,1% of the national total, but has grown by 23%.
AND WHERE DO ITALIANS SPEND? – And where do Italians go to spend their money outside of Italy? Removing the figure for Luxembourg, which evidently goes beyond purely tourist reasons, 2017 was per year – in percentage terms of growth – of Portugal and Sweden: destinations that differ from each other and which in any case still represent a niche (0,8% of total Italian spending abroad). The destinations where the Italian spends the most are instead UK, Spain, Ireland and France, with the latter, however, in sharp decline, especially in the e-commerce channel (-36,8%). The US accounts for almost 10% of physical card payments but only 1,5% of e-commerce. The Italians most inclined to use the credit card and digital payments are the Lombards: a quarter of the transactions, even more, come from citizens residing in and around Milan. Far behind the South: Campania and Sicily are saved, while digital spending in Abruzzo, Molise, Basilicata, Calabria and Sardinia is worth from 1,3% of the total down.
