Three weeks after the first meeting, held on May 16th in the presence of the mayor and president of the Province of La Spezia, the representatives of the Municipalities and the Cinque Terre Park, it met again at the headquarters of the Liguria Region the monitoring table on the new tariffs tourism linked to the Cinque Terre Express, in force for non-residents in the regional territory. A measure “for a better distribution of flows which has also allowed Ligurian students to have free rail transport passes for under-19s or 50% discounted for under-26s across the entire regional territory”, observes the Liguria Region in a note. Present at today’s meeting, in addition to the regional councilor for Transport and Tourism, Augusto Sartori, the regional director of Trenitalia Tiziano Savini, several representatives of the Cinque Terre Consortium, of Confcommercio La Spezia and of Confartigianato La Spezia. They were illustrated during the meeting data relating to railway traffic flows in the period between 16 March, the day the new tariffs came into force, and 2 June.
“The numbers highlight that this year, compared to the homogeneous periods of 2023 (from 18 March to 4 June 2023) and 2022 (from 19 March to 4 June 2022) – we read in the Region’s note -, there was an 8% reduction in tickets issued compared to 2023 but an increase of 13.6% compared to 2022: confirming the growth trend of spring tourism (in fact the increase in 2023 compared to 2022 was 23%). Regarding the number of ‘5 Terre Cards’ issued in 2024, there was a reduction of 7% compared to 2023 but an increase of 84.8% compared to 2022 (the increase in 2023 compared to 2022 was 100%). Furthermore, it is worth mentioning the significant increase in multi-day cards issued on 25 April 2024 compared to 25 April 2023: +39% for the two-day adult card and +47% for the three-day card”. And, Regione further reports, “according to data from the Regional Tourist Observatory, in the municipalities of the Cinque Terre and in the municipalities of La Spezia and Levanto in the first quarter of 2024, compared with the same period of the previous year, there was a greater distribution of tourists even in low season periods and in any case an overall increase in presences throughout the territory. For example: +16.94% of tourist presences in Monterosso al Mare, +17.10% in Vernazza, +10.20% in La Spezia, +8.48% in Levanto and -1.14% in Riomaggiore”.
“Obviously, to have a more complete picture and take stock we will have to wait at least until September – comments Augusto Sartori, regional councilor for Transport and Tourism -. We believe that the drop in tickets sold is not attributable to the increase in rates for tourists, but due to the less than favorable weather and the weather warnings at Easter and Easter Monday which discouraged so-called ‘hit and run’ tourism. This is confirmed by the fact that on 25 April, the only public holiday of the period with good weather, there was an increase in tickets sold of 0.7% compared to 2023 and that for Easter the accommodation facilities in the area were fully booked. Furthermore, this year, according to the calendar, the public holiday of June 2nd, characterized by uncertain weather and temperatures below normal, fell on a Sunday and this prevented the bridge effect”.
The monitoring table will meet again towards the end of July. “We are always available to discuss and meet, where possible, the requests submitted to us. For example, we have introduced night trains on weekends from 9 June to 16 September, we have applied the ‘green’ tariff (that of 2023, without increases) every day after 7.30 pm for trains departing from Levanto and La Spezia and we have reduced the days with ‘red’ tariff which went from 115 to 104″, concludes the councillor.
