Ezhaya (Astoi): «For Italian tour operators, revenues in 2023 will be able to register a +30%»

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For tour operators, 2023 will be the year of returning to pre-pandemic levels. This is the thought of Pier Ezhaya, president of Astoi Confindustria Viaggi which owns almost 10,000 companies, which he underlines. «For Italian tour operators, the revenues of 2023 will be able to register a + 30% on 2022 and equalize the 2019 data, that is, pre-Covid – he added -. 2022 has ferried the Italian tour operator sector towards normality. The goal is to return to pre-Covid levels, to those of 2019, the last good year before the pandemic. The first signs we see about summer 2023 are very encouraging. And they make us think that it will be an excellent summer». In 2013, the organized tourism industry had a turnover of around 13 billion. The health emergency caused by Covid caused revenues to drop to around 3 billion in 2020 and around 2.5 billion the following year. In other words, in 20 months tour operators have lost 20.5 billion. The first signs of a restart in 2022. «It was a year that saw the winter weakened by the restrictions, but with the summer we gradually returned to normal. And with the end of 2022 we put behind us a crisis that hit us hard» recalls Ezhaya. The almost total stop of the market has led to the closure of some tour operators. «There are companies that have closed but there aren’t many – continues the president of Astoi -. Thanks to what has been done with the governments and to the funds that we have managed to obtain thanks also to the EU. Those who are currently operating on the market can look to the future with a certain optimism. Now we need a long-term tourism plan».