Today, Sunday 5 May, marks the end of a phase of long weekends. How has Bologna fared with tourism in these spring weeks, councilor Mattia Santori?
«For the long weekend of April 24-29 we had excellent numbers, with capacity peaks of 90% and an average of 80%. In line with last year, however, May 1st is slightly down with an average of 76%. Also because it wasn’t a bridge this year.”
How is 2024 going in general?
«The numbers tell us that in 2023 Bologna will surpass places such as Riccione and Cesenatico in terms of overnight stays. Historically, tourism in Emilia-Romagna was in Romagna, but Bologna made the big leap. We have never been competitive because on the Riviera people stayed for a week, while in our country they stayed for three days. But by increasing the average nights, and also with the influence of the flood, we overcame it. Only Rimini remains ahead. Bologna and Modena in ’22 are the cities that make the greatest change, +11.5% and +7.4% respectively. And the numbers for the first quarter of 2024 confirm and improve these results. The Region’s data also tells us that foreign tourists have increased by 12%. And as the Municipality of Bologna in the first three months of 2024 we are already at 400 thousand tourists. So we’re heading towards another record year, all fingers crossed, because then last year the flood came and so we know how volatile tourism can be. However, everything points to an excellent year.”
The Tour will also arrive in June. What do you expect?
«From the Region’s forecast data, we are talking about 150 thousand rooms booked and over 2 million people who will take to the streets to see the Tour: impressive numbers. But broadcasting is also interesting, i.e. how much Bologna and Emilia-Romagna will travel around. There are 190 countries connected and in France alone a Sunday stage of the Tour de France can reach 7-8 million viewers. Then it was 30 years since the Tour had a double arrival circuit and we, thanks to San Luca which will be done twice, will have the historic center of Bologna with the first hills and San Luca which will be covered for 40 minutes by 3 helicopters and 3 planes. Better than a documentary. The television impact will be very strong. And we will certainly see the tourism one to follow, in terms of the reputation of the destination.”
How will you manage, in terms of critical issues, the yellow wave that will arrive in the city?
«We will do a thorough communication job so that no one is caught by surprise: both enthusiasts and those who are not interested in the race. There is already a lot of information on the bolognatourdefrance.it website. However, there is talk of a not so strong impact: apart from Via Irnerio, Montagnola and Piazza VIII Agosto, the only areas that will be closed all Sunday, the rest of the route will remain closed “only” from 12.30 to 18.30, therefore in the afternoon”.
Outdoor tourism is also taking hold in our area. What impact are we talking about?
«A tenth of the tourists who arrive in the Bolognese area choose our Apennines and a good part also go to the Imola area. Our goal is to work to give tourists who come to Bologna more things to do and reasons to stay longer. But tourism is not a given, it is not enough to have beautiful places, you need services. The average tourist asks for continuous opening hours, efficient transport and quality of accommodation. And on this, which Bologna-Municipality has well assimilated, in the rest of the metropolitan city we still need to work a little”.
There are those who fear that Bologna is already a victim of overtourism. Is that so?
«I trust the data we have and I say that Bologna is not in danger. Students, Bolognese and vulnerable people still live in the historic center. In the center the people of Bologna go to work, as well as for lunch or dinner. Bologna is not Venice. I don’t see a city where the tourist has replaced the resident. Then Bologna is a city that was born culturally contaminated, whether university students or tourists experience it. However, overtourism is made up of “leisure” tourism and our objective is to increase and consolidate “mice” tourism (acronym for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions, ed.) also because we have already reached the peak of leisure tourism or we don’t have much left. Apart from Rome, Venice and Florence, no destination and no other city has percentages of average room occupancy higher than 75-80%. So if you don’t plan to build new hotels, and here there is no plan, then you have reached the maximum or almost. In short, that type of tourism will not grow indefinitely.”
In the great topic of the housing emergency, the influence of tourism is also being debated. How do you deal with the problem?
«We are debating it and working on it, but to date the national government does not give us the tools to be incisive: the Municipalities cannot put a ceiling either on the prices or on the availability of short-term rentals. However, the idea would not be to prevent tourists from coming to Bologna but to find a balance that benefits everyone.”
