Even if the weather won't help, in fact cold and in some cases even rain are forecast, Easter 2023 promises to finally bring tourism back to the pre-pandemic period and perhaps even a little further up.
In fact, the forecasts of the operators are all more than good, despite the increases reported especially in transport by almost all consumer associations: not only will Italians travel a lot in Italy but they will also leave for abroad and finally foreigners too will return to crowd the our cities of art but also sea and mountains.
And there are many opportunities from major exhibitions to open museums (the updated list is on the Mic website) up to the classic Easter events: from the Via Crucis in Rome to the Madonna fleeing into the square in Sulmona to the angel race in Ischia.
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Traveling or at home, an Easter with price increases - Specials
The Rites of Holy Week, cold weather.
The cost of transport weighs, the prices of eggs and doves skyrocket © Ansa
According to the forecasts of the Tourism Observatory of Confcommercio di Swg, over 16 million Italians are ready to leave for Easter and 25 April.
Not counting the 2.5 million undecided, there will be at least 8 million Easter holidaymakers, 60% of whom will spend 2 nights away from home, but one in ten will "extend" even for the whole week.
Destinations within their own region for one out of two while, of the remaining half, 8 will travel elsewhere but always in Italy and 2 abroad.
Seaside resorts are the most sought-after (22%) followed by cities of art and villages (together 28%) for a total expenditure of around 4 billion euros.
According to Federalberghi, 11.5 million will be lucky to leave: 95.6% of those interviewed will stay in Italy, while 4.4% will choose a foreign location.
The preferred destinations for travelers who will remain in Italy will be the sea (31.6%), the places of art (30.8%), the mountains (17.6%) and, subsequently, the lakes (5, 0%) and spa resorts (1.3%).
For those who will go abroad instead, the big European capitals win (68.2%), followed by non-European ones (13.6%), seaside resorts (9.2%) and cruise travel (4. 5%).
Rosy forecasts also come from the survey carried out by Cst for Assoturismo Confesercenti: on the basis of current bookings, 6.7 million presences are expected in the official Italian accommodation system, +7.3% on 2022. An increase driven by foreign presences, protagonists of booming growth: over the Easter weekend there will in fact be 3.3 million, 49% of the total and 12.1% more than last year.
Assoviaggi Confesercenti, again through the CTS, also investigates how many Italians have booked in travel agencies after the long stop caused by the pandemic.
Over 1.2 million all-inclusive holiday packages were purchased for the week of Easter and the spring long weekends from the network of Italian agencies, with an increase of +11% on last year.
The desire to travel abroad is the master, up by +23% compared to 2022, while Italian destinations drop by -7%.
According to Federturismo Confidustria, despite the high prices weighing on family budgets, Italians will not give up the Easter weekend even if they will prefer closer destinations to reach in a few hours by car or train, reducing the number of nights away to a maximum of two and there is a +15% of foreigners.
Bookings also growing those registered by Confindustria Alberghi with double-digit increases: Rome and Florence +17%, Milan +15.
An even more significant figure when compared with that of some of our main European competitors.
If Paris is substantially at a standstill, due to the complex political situation of recent weeks, with bookings in line with those of Easter 2022 (+0.1%), Berlin stops at +4.8%, Barcelona at +9% and only London records a more significant variation with +15.4%.