More than 56 million presences are expected for the outdoor segment for the summer of 2023 (meaning the months of June to September), with growth stabilising compared to 2022 (+2%) and a recovery of the normal demand trend compared to 2019 (+1%). 2023 is expected to be one of the best summers in the last ten years (behind only 2017).
This is what emerges from the 3rd edition of the Outdoor Tourism Observatory produced by Human Company, a Florentine company that is a reference point in hospitality in Italy and has been active in open-air tourism for over forty years, in collaboration with Thrends, a company specialising in analysis and strategies in the tourism & hospitality sector.
The work developed also presents a preview for the sector of the results for the year 2022, which with 66.1 million total presences certifies the recovery of the demand lost in 2020 (-1.1% on 2019). In particular, foreign demand becomes the main one with over 34 million presences (+40% on 2021 and +3% on 2019) of which 69% is absorbed by 5 destinations, in order Veneto (44.1%), Tuscany (11.3%), Lombardy (7.6%), Alto Adige (4.9%) and Piedmont (4.2%). For summer 2023, a foreign market is estimated at 28.6 million presences (+5% on 2019) and an Italian market close to 2019 values (-2%) with 28 million.
The 2022 summer season saw regions such as Liguria, Trentino and Alto Adige grow at rates close to 10% compared to 2019, with the exploit of Marche (+19.7% on 2019). In terms of summer volumes, Veneto was confirmed as the leader in terms of presences with over 16 million, followed by Tuscany (8.6 mln) and Emilia Romagna (3.9 mln).
The open-air tourism sector sees an important growth in preferences in this historical period: in 2022 it accounted for 16.7% of the presences recorded throughout Italy (it was 15.3% in 2019).

At a European level, Italy is the second largest market behind France (over 135 million presences in 2022) but it is the only country of the top 6 in the EU to record presences that are still lower than in 2019 (i.e. compared to France, Germany, Spain, Holland and Croatia).
The estimate of presences for the summer was based on a careful work of collection, homogenisation and analysis of data from different sources such as Istat, Eurostat and the Regional Statistical Offices.
The Observatory also presents the view of the sector’s operators in order to understand their perception. It shows how they all expect a consolidation of the demand trend, accompanied by the challenge of stabilising management margins between cost containment and sales tariffs for which about 4/5 of the respondents expect a growth of more than 5% compared to 2022.

Go toTHRENDS’ website to download the Observatory