The bridge between April 25th and May 1st once again crowned the city of Naples among the queen destinations of national and international tourism. There were around 400 thousand visitors to the city, with the hotels 91% full on the Liberation weekend, a percentage that dropped to 70% for Labor Day due to its occurrence on a Wednesday. The most positive data, however, is that of overnight stays: tourism in Naples is no longer hit and run, but is increasingly made up of people who sleep in the city and even stay there for several days.
Naples queen of tourism
The numbers are extremely positive for Naples, which apparently is managing to make tourism an important asset for the city’s economy, despite the fact that politics is practically immobile in trying to regulate a phenomenon that practically fell from the sky, a little ‘ by virtue of the Holy Spirit and very much thanks to the sense of pride of redemption of the Neapolitans, who have used social media (also) to spread a different image of the city far from negative stereotypes. A real advertisement that had the unexpected effect of attracting more and more visitors.
Room occupancy at 91%
According to Federalberghi Naples, the hotels had an occupancy percentage ranging from 85% on April 25th to 91% on Saturday 27th and 90% on Friday 26th. Almost sold out also for non-hotel accommodation facilities. Also lending a significant hand was Comicon, which recorded a record with 175 thousand attendees, demonstrating how large and well-organised events are important for related industries.
The shadows: poor services for tourists and inconvenience for citizens
There is no shortage of shadows, with various inefficiencies complained by tourists, especially those coming from cities, both Italian and European, where the levels are significantly higher. But those who suffer the effects of uncontrolled tourism are above all the Neapolitans themselves, who have to share with hundreds of thousands of people what is already lacking, as well as having to submit to consequences of no small importance such as the uncontrolled increase in the cost of living, prices for the purchase of houses and leases, the distortion of vast areas of the territory, the subtraction of portions of the city. It is here that we see the macroscopic limits of Neapolitan politics, which pretends not to look at what it does not have the ability and desire to face.
