Regional focus
now, but overall Italy is famous not only for the beauty of the country but also for being fairly welcoming,” he says. “This is due to the fact that most important hotels are family-owned or are independent.” However, the past few years have not been easy,
even for an illustrious country such as Italy. The pandemic saw the hospitality industry set to lose more than €36bn from missing tourists and visitors, according to the WTTC. This has left the road to recovery a fraught one, with hotel occupancy rates falling to 39.7% in 2020. Projections from GlobalData show that the hotel industry is on the path to recovery, with occupancy rates hitting 65.2% in 2022, however, these are not expected to reach 2019 levels until 2024. In spite of the significant impact of Covid-19 on
Above: Hotels across Italy offer a perfect fusion of art, culture and relaxation.
Below: Guests have accepted that in paying more, they will receive a higher quality and luxury service.
Previous page: A private infi nity pool at the Borgo Santandrea on the Amalfi Coast.
€36bn
The loss to the hospitality industry as a result of the pandemic. WTTC
Eat, pray, love The country is considered one of the most attractive destinations for tourists in terms of development, with the top five destinations – Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence, and Bologna – having the highest concentration of hotels in its destination pipeline, according to Horwath HTL Italy Hotels & Chains. In Italy, 60% of the total branded hotels are located in art and business locations, with 30% in coastal destinations. “Art, food and people are the three main factors for tourism in Italy,” says Zana. “But once visitors arrive in our country, they find much more. The quality of facilities, excellent service, nature trails, spa tourism, activities and of course shopping.” For Maurizio Orlacchio, co-owner and general manager of Borgo Santandrea, he was “born and raised” in hotels and spent 11 years working for the Four Seasons brand, the experience of which he brings with him to Borgo Santandrea. For him, what makes Italy so attractive is the nature of the hotels themselves, as some of the best are independently run or family-owned. “Of course, you know, we are going through the globalisation process,” Orlacchio adds. “It’s changing according to the big demand that there is
the hotel industry, it has remained popular with strong potential in terms of growth. The country saw strong recovery in 2021, seeing 58.5% growth in terms of its overall economy due to the contributions from travel and tourism, as the sector met rising demands of holidaymakers as the restrictions began to lift. “After two very difficult years, the outlook is much brighter. Travel & Tourism’s projections provide a massive boost, not only to Italy’s overall economy, but to the creation of new jobs,” said Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO in a report. “Precisely because of this continued expansion,
Italian hospitality has refined over and over, becoming more and more focused on the guest,” adds Zana. “For example, on the Amalfi Coast today even in an ‘inexpensive’ B&B, it’s possible to find a high level of service. It is also true that customers are willing to spend more but demand increasingly high quality in return.” For Zana, Italian hospitality is the key reason for
its resiliency in the past few years. “I don’t think the hotel industry has slowed down in recent years,” he adds. “On the contrary, it has been growing steadily, and not even the pandemic has been able to curb this development. Big names of the world’s hotel industry are buzzing about Italy, an ever-expanding market, and many interesting openings are expected in the coming years.”
Everyday challenges On the topic of challenges, however, Orlacchio feels that the hospitality industry faces challenges on a daily basis. For him, running a hotel incurs challenges from all angles, but the main priority is ensuring that the guest leaves with a smile. So while the pandemic had a big impact on the industry, it was just another challenge they had to endure. It also presented the industry with a wider wave of tourism: “It opened it up to the public – before you had this idea that if you don’t have a room in the hotel, you cannot go to the bar, you cannot go to the restroom.
16 Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
Enzo Rando
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