The holiday village market - Italy

1.1 Definition and presentation

A tourist village is a tourist facility (also called a vacation village) that accommodates tourists for longer or shorter stays. Usually within these facilities families have the opportunity to purchase a package where several services are included (accommodation, catering or individual means of preparing meals, recreational activities).

In Italy, at the legal level, tourist villages are referred to as hotel villages. These facilities are usually placed in areas equipped for staying and conducting organized recreational activities.

On a global level, this type of market has certainly suffered greatly during the recent health crisis due to the widespread halt in tourism, lately, however, a recovery can be observed thanks to the recent reopening of borders and the tourism facilities put in place by various states.

The Italian tourism market and particularly the resort market has also been greatly affected by Covid-19, but the signs of recovery seen in recent months are glaring.

During the summer of 2021, Italy observed a positive trend of growth in vacation bookings, and above all, this positive trend also allowed for growth in the occupancy rate of hotels and resorts.

The most popular month for Italians to vacation in a resort was August, and the most visited places were those in the vicinity of home. This trend, too, is a result of the pandemic that generated fear in Italians and therefore they were led to choose destinations closer to their place of residence.

Another important trend to keep in mind is that of sustainable tourism referring specifically to tourist resorts. These types of facilities, in fact, can be very harmful to the environment as given the large number of guests a lot of waste is produced every day and a lot of resources such as water and energy are used. Italians are increasingly calling for more "green" and sustainable options such as, for example, abandoning single-use plastics and installing solar panels to save energy. Valtur villages have already developed a strategic plan that is in line with Esg criteria.

In addition, it is happening more and more often that resorts are transforming themselves and in addition to being vacation spots they are organizing activities to support local communities and the flora and fauna of the places where they are located.