Confcommercio, 17 million Italians travelling. Here are the destinations chosen for these holidays

There are 17 million Italians who will travel for the holidays, one million more than November estimates. Over six out of ten will remain within national borders. However, they will be more fragmented holidays, with more departures, with a tendency to travel outside the canonical periods and for shorter periods of stay. This is revealed by the focus on Christmas, New Year and Epiphany 2025 by the Italians of the Confcommercio Tourism Observatory in collaboration with Swg.

In detail – we read – 25% declare that they will travel both in Italy and abroad, therefore making more trips. 12% will leave exclusively for foreign destinations, especially on New Year’s Eve and Epiphany, a strong growth figure compared to 2022. Among those who will not take holidays, 20% link this choice to economic reasons, 13% due to lack of available holidays. The overall expected expenditure, net of some uncertainty still present, is over 8 billion euros, with the highest values ​​referring to New Year’s Eve which represents the highest point of the festive “trident” both as average expense per person (390 euros) than as a total number of travelers (almost 9 million). 44% of those who travel at Christmas will go to the homes of friends and relatives.

Among the favorite destinations, large cities or cities of art (23%), seaside locations (22%), or mountain locations (17%). At the center of the choice of destinations is the need to rest and the desire to taste typical products, confirming the close connection between tourism and the food and wine offer of the territories. For foreign countries, the ‘top ten’ destinations are headed by Spain, followed by France and Great Britain. On New Year’s Eve, the queen of holidays, 27% will choose a big city or a city of art, while 23% of departing Italians will opt for the mountains.

Over 1 in 4 Italians will choose a hotel for their New Year’s Eve stays. Among those who choose to take a holiday with at least 5 nights, 1 in 4 will go abroad, with France 17%, Spain 13% and Greece 12% among the favorite destinations. Even for the Epiphany long weekend, short stays will prevail (52% of those leaving do not plan to stay more than 2 nights). Among the destinations, one in four travelers chooses large cities or cities of art and one in five chooses the mountains. The percentage of those choosing a foreign destination for holidays of at least 5 days is growing sharply (29% compared to 15% in 2022).