Trips and holidays in Italy and abroad

Istat presents provisional estimates of the main aggregates of tourism demand in Italy in 2011, based on the multipurpose survey ‘Trips and holidays’ which has been conducted on a quarterly basis since 1997.

The survey collects information on trips of at least one overnight stay made by the resident population living in households. The aim of the survey is to detect the number of trips and their main characteristics (destination, type of accommodation, means of transport, duration) as well as the socio-demographic characteristics of tourists. The survey, thus, provides a complete picture of the national tourism demand, quantifying the number of trips (and nights) both to Italy and abroad made for business and personal purposes.

The sample size is 14,000 households per year (3,500 per quarter), corresponding to roughly 33,000 individuals. The methodology and organization of the survey are available on the Italian version of Istat website (www3.istat.it/dati/catalogo/20060615_00/).

In 2011, trips with overnight stays made by residents were 83,504 millions, corresponding to 532,448 millions nights. Compared to 2010, there is a 16.5% decrease in the number of trips and a 15.1% decrease in the number of nights spent travelling.

In particular, trips for personal purposes, which accounted for 86. 9% of the total, show a decline  (-17%), due to the substantial reduction in both short holidays (-19.5%), already observed in the previous two years, and long holidays (-14.9%). Also business trips record a decrease (-13.1%).

In terms of overnight stays, the reduction is also evident for the holidays (-15.6%), both long ones  (-15.3%) and short ones (-17.1%), while overnight stays spent on business trips remain stable.

Compared to 2010, the quarterly average of persons who went on holiday decrease (from 27% in 2010 to 23.6% in 2011) in all areas of the country, but especially among residents in the South (from 19.5% in 2010 to 15.3% in 2011).