Italy has seen a sharp drop in holidaymakers this summer, hit by cooler weather, rising prices and cheap package tours to more exotic climes, industry bodies said yesterday.
Sunny Italy has long been at the top of holiday wish lists the world over, with hotspots Rome, Venice and Florence attracting millions with their culture, history and food.
But the country's hotel managers and restaurant owners say tourists from wealthy central and northern Europe, a key source of income over the summer months, have stayed away.
Italians themselves, once notorious for their month-long August holidays, have tightened the purse strings and cut their summer breaks to an average of 12 days, according to one survey.
Overall, industry bodies say the season will see the number of tourists fall by up to 30 per cent in some resorts, while retailers' association Confcommercio has estimated the drop will cost the sector some €1.6 billion.
The Italian tourist industry accounts for some 12 per cent of the country's gross domestic product and indicators show the national economy is still struggling.
"The main difference is in tourists from Germany. We have seen a drop of 15 per cent, that means some 1.5 million tourists less than last year," said Piergiorgio Togni, director general of Italy's tourism board ENIT.
Some 70 per cent of Italy's foreign tourists come from other European countries, with Germany taking the lion's share.
"Italy may remain the preferred destination for Germans, but they are looking to other, cheaper holidays in Cyprus or Malta," Mr Togni said. "We are paying the price of being more upscale."
According to figures from the Italian association of tour operators, ASTOI, the number of German tourists travelling to Italy's south is estimated to have dropped by 30 per cent, while visitors to the northwest coastline dropped by about a fifth.
"We have not got our final figures yet, but a drop of around seven per cent overall is quite plausible," ASTOI spokeswoman Mariza Bertacca said.
"It is not just the ongoing economic crisis, it is also changing lifestyles. People no longer go to the same place every year, and stay for a month," she said, adding the worst hit segment of the market were mid-range seaside hotels and pensions which depended on family holidays.
Ms Bertacca said that in 2003 Italian tourism was helped by the unusually hot weather that convinced many people to spend more time and money than they had planned to on holidays.
Holidaymakers from new markets such as China and the former Soviet Union, mainly Russia, are increasing - but not by enough to compensate for the fall from other countries.
"We have seen a 14 or 15 per cent rise. These are richer holidaymakers, oblivious to the strong euro," Mr Togni said. "But the base is low and there are still too few to compensate for the drop elsewhere. Our main market remains western Europe."
The sole sector to have seen a rise in tourists is the emerging rural tourism industry, with farm and walking holidays becoming an alternative to the seaside and cities.
For Bernabo Bocca, head of hotel association Federalberghi, the solution is still to focus on quality.
"They have to bet on quality because there are still a lot of people around who will spend to get adequate services," he told newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.
"I ask entrepreneurs not to try and compete with places like Croatia or North Africa in a senseless cost battle, which would only mean a deterioration of services and quality. If that happened, it would really be impossible to recover."