Germans in Rimini in winter, and overnight stays in the first three months as had not been seen even before Covid. The Istat tourism data for the first three months make mayor Jamil Sadegholvaad smile again even if the long weekend of April 25th appears incomplete due to the low temperatures. “Rimini, from January to March 2024, recorded +12.8% in arrivals and +12% in overnight stays compared to the analogue, and already an excellent period in 2023”. This pressed the mayor. But it’s only the beginning. Comparing the number of arrivals and stays with the same period in 2019, before the pandemic, the sign is still a plus, and not in decimals. “We have a 9.6% increase in arrivals, and a 7.2% increase in hotel presences compared to 2019. We are talking about the last pre-pandemic year and also the last year characterized by a massive presence of Russian tourism, then reset due to the war in Ukraine”. In summary, we have not only done better than last year, but also a tourism that now seems far away in time, when we didn’t even dream of a virus capable of changing the world and we thought of a war on the outskirts of Europe capable of eliminating arrivals from the East.
In these first three months, even if the Riviera’s clientele remains mostly Italian, there has been a strong presence of foreigners. Here too the percentages help to understand the phenomena. “The data testifies to a widespread increase in foreign tourism. Only for Rimini, the capital, there was +65.5% of German overnight stays, +13.1% of French, +16.3% of English”. A symptom that events and conferences, starting from trade fairs, are not only a guarantee, but also a vehicle for increasing tourist flows from abroad. Overnight stays by foreigners in Rimini alone approached 150 thousand. Overall, there were 575 thousand stays in the first quarter of the year.
Rimini is not a white fly on the Riviera. Riccione also recorded record numbers, higher in percentage than those of the capital. Compared to 2019, the Green Pearl saw overnight stays increase by 13.4%, and arrivals by 13.8%. The percentages rise if you look at Bellaria-Igea Marina, Cattolica and Misano, but in these cases the overall stays in the quarter are limited and consequently in absolute terms we are talking about reduced numbers. To give an idea, Cattolica had a total attendance of 32 thousand.
For Sadegholvaad, who is also the president of the Province, “it is an encouraging result, not only for our city but for the whole province: excellent both for the coastal municipalities and for the hinterland, from Riccione to Cattolica, from Misano to Bellaria, up to the hill. The events have worked, fairs and conferences are well beyond a strong point, the attractiveness and services of our cities and our towns do the rest, which is huge. Furthermore “the great promotional work in particular on the foreign markets of Visit Romagna, Apt and Visit Rimini is giving important results”.
Andrea Oliva
