2014 Italy tourism remained difficult

(ANSA) - Rome, January 23 - The year 2014 was another unstable one for Italian tourism obliging hotel companies to work on a short-term basis without being able to plan investments or increase staff, sector sources said Friday. Foreign tourists continued to make Italy a popular destination but there was only a tiny recovery in domestic tourism by Italians (up by 0.6%), meaning that the large number of hotels relying on Italian guests continued to suffer from the recession.
    So 2014 also ended with a mixed balance sheet for the Italian tourist hotel system and hopes for a positive turning point are pinned on the Milan Expo trade fair that is now imminent.
    "Italian tourism closed its accounts for 2014 with further reductions in turnover and the number of rooms occupied," said the president of Federalberghi, Bernabò Bocca.
    "It was a year of alternating current. Foreign tourists once again proved their attachment to our country with a growth of 1.5% in hotel presences consolidating a result equal to an increase of 6.8% in the last three years, while Italian demand remained solidly stuck below the levels of 2011 (making a period that amounts to 7.65% fewer night stays)".
    The difference is all the more marked when examining the monthly details - Italian tourism had negative indicators for seven months in 12 last year, with significant surges of demand in April (up 7.7%), in May (up 7.1%), and in December (5.6%).
    Uncertainty also prevailed on the labour market, with 1.17% fewer workers employed in tourist hotels in 2014, (the decline was by 4% in 2013), but for permanent job contracts the annual figure fell by as much as 3.2% while temporary jobs fell by 0.2%.