Italian beaches expect summer boom: 20.7 million arrivals!

Italian beaches expect summer boom: 20.7 million arrivals!

Italy is preparing for a summer boom, because between June and August 2025, 20.7 million arrivals and 110.1 million overnight stays are expected in the seaside resorts of the country. This represents an increase of 2 percent for arrivals and 1.1 percent in overnight stays compared to the previous year, such as OE24. The study, which was carried out on behalf of the Assoturismo Confesercenti and the Italian Ministry of Tourism, interviewed around 1,500 accommodation companies in Italian seaside resorts.

Another favorite trend is the influx from abroad, where the arrivals are to increase by 415,000 and the overnight stays by almost 1.2 million units. The Italian vacationers make up 56.8 percent of the overnight stays, which corresponds to an increase of 0.6 percent compared to the summer of 2024. Around 47.5 million overnight stays are forecast for foreign guests, which means an increase of 1.8 percent.

leading markets and popular regions

Germany remains the largest foreign market for Italy, with 30 percent of foreign guests. Other important countries of origin are Austria, Switzerland, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands. In the upper Adriatic, which is very popular with Austrian guests, an increase of 1.4 percent is expected, which corresponds to 23.9 million overnight stays.

In the past ten years, arrivals in the Italian seaside resorts have increased by 23.4 percent and overnight stays by 15.9 percent. The entire Italian tourism sector reports of an increase in arrivals by 14 percent and overnight stays by 16.7 percent. For 2024, Italian beach tourism generated sales of impressive 22 billion euros.

trends on a beach holiday

Statista , almost 30 percent planned a bathing or beach vacation in 2022. Popular activities during such vacation are relaxing on the beach, swimming, water sports and beach games. Bathrooms are particularly in demand for families.

The southern European countries, among them Spain, Greece, Italy, France and Turkey, are among the most popular destinations. The Germans also have a preference for all-inclusive offers, especially in Spain, where over 60 percent chose this form of vacation 2020. The water quality in Europe is also mostly excellent, with over 85 percent of bathing water in excellent constitution. Cyprus leads with almost 98 percent excellent bathing water quality.

ecological challenges of tourism

These different numbers illustrate the intensive use of tourist offers and the need to make tourism sustainable. Around 96 million overnight stays were recorded in the Canary Islands in 2023, followed by the Croatian Adriatic coast and Catalonia, which shows the leading travel destinations within the EU. Tourist hotspots are therefore not only an important economic factor, but also an important topic with regard to ecological sustainability and the social acceptance of mass tourism.