The Apulian capital is preparing to become the logistics center in view of the G7 scheduled in Puglia from 13 to 15 June. Six greats of the Western world will stay in Borgo Egnazia, the luxury resort in the heart of the Itria valley, journalists from all over Italy and the rest of the world and members of the various staff and entourage could choose Bari as a base and then move to the rest of Puglia to follow the scheduled meetings and summits.
A hypothesis that seems to be confirmed by the overbooking of the capital’s facilities, which have all been full for some time right around the time of the international summit. Sold out rooms, from doubles to singles, in almost all four and five star hotels in the city. From the Hotel Oriente to Villa Romanazzi Carducci, passing through the Victoria park in Palese (in the airport area), all availability is sold out.
With the only free rooms remaining belonging to the category of suites or deluxe rooms. These accommodations have also undergone a significant increase in prices compared to recent years: 400 or 600 euros for a couple of nights’ stay. The situation does not improve even if we turn to the non-hotel market which includes Bed&Breakfasts and holiday homes. Even in this case, prices have increased and availability remains limited.
The phenomenon, however, is not new and is not only linked to the major international event scheduled. The trend of increasing costs for staying in Bari has been going on since last year and adapts to the national market. According to the numbers provided by the latest monitoring by Italian Hotel Monitor (Ihm), processed with Trademark Italia, the final part of last year closed with a +10.4% on average prices per room.
It is the luxury sector that has the most important growth among the different types of accommodation, all above the 2022 data, for average daily rate (+11%) and room only (+0.7 points); the upscale sector (4 stars) grows in terms of average price (+8.4%) and occupancy (+3 percentage points) and the midscale sector (3 stars) grows by +2.7 points for room only and +11% in average room price.
At the top of the top ranking in terms of average sales price is always Venice, with a price of 245.89 euros (+15% compared to 2022), ahead of Florence (194.64 euros, +12.8%), Milan ( 188.76 euros, +9.7%), Rome (166.62 euros, +9.5%), Como (150.67 euros, +12.5%), Genoa (117.03 euros, +8% ), Naples (116.26 euros, +9.8%), Bologna (109.98 euros, +7.1%), Palermo (107.98 euros, +12.7%), Bari (105.60 euros , +12.5%) and Bergamo (100.35 euros, +6.9%).
On a national scale, all 39 cities monitored exceed the symbolic quota of 60% in terms of employment, with 29 cities above 70% and 5 of these even above 80%: Rimini, Pescara, Como, Rome and Pesaro.
