Markets
Market insights snapshot - Italy
Learn about market spend and recovery trends, current buyer organisations, and consumer priorities for the Italy market.
Market trends
- Consumers are increasingly using online channels for bookings, especially for flights. Traditional operators, however, remain the main booking channel for long haul and special interest travel, such as groups, luxury and the honeymoon segment.
- Italy is proven to be a very fragmented market when talking about distribution both in terms of geography and industry (both Tour Operators and Travel Agencies)
- As a response to changing traveller preferences, audiences and consumer behaviour new distribution partners are emerging in the market with specific work models and product offering (e.g. guided groups tours for millennials, special interest travel for sport events, music, online tos selling only to consumers directly)
- According to the Tour Operator associations an emerging trend is the advance booking and propensity of travel out of high season (August to December)
- Even though Spain does not sit in the key markets for Tourism Australia but in the Rest of The World cluster, we can notice a strong demand coming from Spain and arrivals growing double digit compared to 2023 (+10.1% Year end November 2024)
Buyer snapshot
- Kia Ora Viaggi is attending ATE for the first time. They are an online operator selling directly to consumers without travel agent intermediation. Their strategy is mainly digital with a strong online presence.
- For Italy: There are 10 buyers from Italy, including one Luxe buyer
- For Spain: There are three buyers attending ATE this year, one being a new buyer, Mundo Expedicion
Consumer trends
- Italian travellers are drawn to Australia's natural beauty and unique wildlife, with a particular interest in destinations such as Sydney, Melbourne, Kakadu National Park and the Great Barrier Reef.
- Sustainability is a key factor with four in five Italian travellers saying it's important to them and more than a third choosing a destination based on its sustainability initiatives.
- Japan and USA are main long-haul competitor destinations in the market
- Italian travellers base their decision on what time of year to travel on when they can get the best value for money
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