The Covid-19 pandemic is having a drastic effect on the tourism industry worldwide, with countries heavily dependent on the sector most affected by the crisis. However, some countries and regions have shown mild progress in 2021, for example, Tuscany in Italy.
Tourism in Tuscany is recovering, but it is still far away from the 2019 levels. According to Coldiretti Toscana, based on the data by Istat on the first nine months of the year, the number of customers in accommodation facilities has grown compared to 2020 (+ 27.2%), but is still lower than in 2019 (-38%).
This decrease had a subsequent effect on the tourism expenditure, with a shortfall of over 10 billion euros nationwide for the entire year 2021 compared to the pre-pandemic level.
One-third of these losses of tourism in Tuscany affected consumption in restaurants, pizzerias, trattorias or farmhouses, but also the purchase of street food and holiday souvenirs.
“Above all, foreign tourists are missing, as they have a high spending capacity. But national consumption also fell, especially during the holidays at the end of the year, while more positive results were recorded in the summer period,” said Fabrizio Filippi, President of Coldiretti Toscana.
“Part of the sector was saved by the Italians and local tourism where the small villages and historic centers of which our region is extraordinarily rich took the lion's share; places that transmit security, beauty and freedom,” he concluded.
Thus said, the situation is clearly difficult for the sector. But this year’s small improvement can be the light at the end of the tunnel for the region’s tourism industry, as it aspires to welcome many more tourists to the beautiful cities of Florence, Pisa and Siena in the coming months.