Italy’s conference and events industry is improving, according to new data from the Italian Survey of Conferences and Events 2021. This followed the lifting of restrictions on 1 July of that year.
Promoted by Italian trade body Federcongressi&eventi, the annual study was conducted by the Graduate School of Economics and International Relations at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (ASERI). The findings, collected between February and April 2022, were presented to Italy’s national tourism board (ENIT) on 5 July.
In 2021, a total of 86,438 in-person and hybrid events were held in Italy; an increase of 23.7% in comparison with 2020. Delegates attending in-person totalled 4,585,433 (a 14.7% increase to 2020), with an overall attendance figure of 6,798,425 (a 16.3% increase to 2020). The increase is higher than those of conferences and events in Italy prior to the restrictions introduced in 2020, which was an annual increase of 4.1%.
The increase was noted despite Italy maintaining reduced capacity until 2 December. Commenting on the findings, Federcongressi&eventi president Gabriella Gentile said: “All companies in the supply chain are now responding to a demand that is even higher than expected.”
Hotels lead the way
The industry behaviours covered by the survey included factors such as preferred venues, the regions that delegates travelled from, and the type of events held.
Conference hotels were favoured as venues, coming in at 72.8% of the surveyed events held in 2021. More specifically, venues with a total capacity of more than 2,500 delegates registered an increase of 73.2% in events hosted. At the surveyed venues, corporate events accounted for 63% of the functions held while association conferences registered at less than 25% of the events held at almost half the number of venues surveyed.
Hybrid events were also covered by the survey, which estimated that 17,900 hybrid events had been hosted at the surveyed venues during 2021 – 20.7% of the total number of events held.
Gentile added: “The virtual world provided an important resource during the pandemic and will continue to be a possible option in the future, but the value of in-person meetings has undoubtedly been strengthened by the stop imposed by Covid-19.”
Tourism minister Massimo Garavaglia commented: “The data presented on 5 July is important, particularly at a time when we are writing the 2023-2027 Strategic Plan for Tourism. This commitment continues to equip the Italian tourism industry with all the tools it needs to plan future strategies.”
