New Year’s Eve sold out for holiday homes in Italy

It promises to be a sold out New Year’s Eve for holiday homes in Italy. According to a recent research by Wonderful Italy, the largest Italian hospitality company in the sector with over 1,500 holiday homes, guests booked on 23 December for the Christmas holidays are 6,000, a good 50% more than the 4,000 in December 2021. They are increasing also the nights sold which go from 9,000 to 12,000. The peculiarity that emerges from the Wonderful Italy data is that this year not only are the city destinations most associated with a winter stay such as Turin, Bologna and Naples growing, but there are important leaps forward of destinations universally associated with more summer tourism such as Palermo and western Sicily in general and Genoa and Liguria. «The rediscovery of summer destinations in winter is proof that seasonal adjustment is possible. Preventing tourist flows from being concentrated exclusively in the high season benefits both the economy of the local communities and the territory. Because it means keeping the tourism industry active even in the winter months on the one hand and preventing the area from being subjected to mass arrivals concentrated in a few weeks on the other», underlines Michele Ridolfo, CEO and co-founder of Wonderful Italy.

Looking at the data in detail, Turin is the destination with the greatest increase: almost 70% more nights sold in December 2022 compared to the same period in 2021. Moving instead to the south, Palermo is the most popular destination with 1500 nights sold in current month compared to 900 in December 2021. Genoa and Bologna recorded a 20% increase in nights sold this month and reached the quota of 2400 nights in both cities. The increase in Naples was more contained, stopping at 10% but which on an annual basis can still boast a 110% increase in nights sold. «December is traditionally a month with a moderate influx in the short-term rental sector. In fact, ‘Christmas with your family’ often translates into spending the holidays with relatives and friends. We are therefore particularly satisfied with the results achieved this month as well, which contribute to closing a record year. Managed homes increased by 40% from 1,000 in 2021 to over 1,400 today. On the commercial front, however, we recorded an increase in nights sold from 114,000 to 210,000. For 2023 we expect even higher numbers, also thanks to the recent openings in Sardinia and on Lake Como», concluded Ridolfo.