(ANSA) - Italy's economic recession is taking a big bite into summer tourism this year, sector sources said here on Wednesday. An estimated six million Italians will not be taking time off, the sources added, which translates into four billion euros in lost revenue.
"The recession has strongly penalised tourism-related consumer spending and four billion euros in lost turnover represents a 'Waterloo' for everyone: sector businessmen and the political world," observed Barnabo' Bocca, chairman of the hotel-tourism association Federalberghi-Conftourismo.
According to Bocca, "the country's whole tourism sector risks collapse and this will hurt Italy's image and benefit its world competitors." In order to avoid this, Bocca said "real and urgent measures are needed. There is no room for compromise if we want to turn the situation around next year."
Among the proposals advanced by Bocca were sealing a pact between the government and unions to hold down prices and costs, investment in infrastructures, bringing Italy's VAT rates into line with those of its chief competitors, France and Spain, and paying more attention to promotion.
Central and local governments, he added, "must demonstrate with facts that they are still interested in this economic sector, which employs two million people and represents 12% of GDP."
Bocca made his remark during the presentation of a Federalberghi-Confturismo report on the tourism sector for the first half of the year. Last week, the national retailers' association Confesercenti released a study, based on a poll by the SWG research group, which said the current recession had convinced many Italians to forgo a holiday this summer and those who are vacationing are taking less time off. According to this study, 35% of Italians will only take a week's break this summer, up from 28% a year ago, and 71% of them in August.
Between June and September, the study added, Italian holiday-goers are expected to spend a total of 24.3 billion euros, an 11% drop over the summer of 2004, with per capita spending amounting to 737 euros, a 43-euro decline from last year.
Confesercenti chairman Marco Venturi was less drastic than Bocca and observed that "the overall picture tells us that we're are not dealing with any collapse in tourism, only a change in attitude."
"Families are tightening their belts and giving up or reducing their vacation time. This is in line with the decline in consumer spending we have been witnessing for some time now," he added. "The problem is that there is nothing on the horizon
which can restore consumer confidence, no indication that the nation and its economy are back on the move. And without this it is difficult to convince Italians to spend more or take more vacation time and investors to put their money into the tourism sector," Venturi concluded.
