New Year’s Eve travelling, over a million Italians rely on agencies

They will be approximately 1.3 million Italians traveled during the New Year period through agency services: around 450 thousand in Italy, while almost 850 thousand in a foreign destination. This is estimated by the tourist study center of Florence for Assoviaggi Confesercenti, based on a survey conducted on a sample of 648 agencies throughout Italy.

The estimate refers to travelers who have purchased at least one service through the network of Italian travel agencies, from complete packages to tickets.

New Year’s Eve is confirmed as the highlight for travel explains Assoviaggi. 65% of Italians who have chosen to travel during these holidays will leave between the end and the beginning of the year. Overall, however, booking requests are down by around 4% compared to last year: the strong recovery of the global tourism market has led to rising tariffs around the world but the high costs of tourist services weigh particularly heavily on Italian travelers who have less spending power than other European countries.

The decline is more marked for Italian destinations, unlike trips across the border, and especially for particularly competitive destinations, which have contributed to attenuating the negativity of the data. To say goodbye to 2024 and welcome 2025 to Italians they will mainly choose European capitals, while requests for spa/wellness trips are decreasing.

Instead, cruises, tailor-made trips and group trips with a companion, adventure trips, active/sports holidays and above all products for the various Mediterranean countries are seeing an increase in interest.

For those who have chosen to remain in Italy, at the top of the ranking is Trentino-Alto Adige, followed by Tuscany, Campania, Lazio, Sicily and Veneto. For Italians who will go on holiday abroad, among the most popular “short-haul” destinations we find Spain, France, Morocco (strongly increasing), the United Kingdom and Austria.

Among the “medium range” destinations, the choices focused on Egypt (increasing), Finland, Norway, Iceland and Sweden, all of which decreased compared to 2023.

Finally, for “long haul” the Caribbean, United States, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, these destinations are also on the increase compared to 2023. There was no shortage of requests for Madagascar, Argentina, Seychelles, South Africa and Australia, as well as bookings for the Maldives, Kenya, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Mexico and Mauritius.