Original article written by World Capital, partner of idealista/news
There is currently great vibrancy in the real estate sector of the Italian hotel and catering industry, with a wide range of accommodation and growing interest by investors. The inimitable Italian landscapes and positive trends are driving major tourist accommodation brands to choose Italy as their investment destination, such as the Belmond hotel chain that will reach Tuscany and Melià and Aman in southern Italy.
It is not only the charming location that attracts investors to Italian accommodation, though. Italy, in fact, leads the way in European hotel hospitality with more than 2.2 million beds (second only to France in terms of non-hotel accommodation, but with a greater variety of accommodation).
According to the first report on Italian Tourist Real Estate from World Capital, in collaboration with Federalberghi, Trivago and sponsored by Enit, which will be released this month, 40% of hotel seekers prefer coastal cities, while 38% focus on the city, 15% on the mountains and 7% on the lake regions.
The most attractive cities for tourists are Milan, Venice and Rome, while the most popular coastal destinations are the Costa Smeralda, Capri, Taormina and Positano.
Another interesting point to note from the report is that 62% of those who want to open a new touristic accommodation establishment are interested in buying a property, while only 38% consider renting.
Among the most sought-after structures, 76% are interested in hotels, with a preference for the 3-star category, while 12% are oriented towards B&Bs, 5% to residences and apartments, 4% to holiday resorts and the remaining 3% to farms.
Again, the most popular hotels are three- and four-star hotels with 34%, followed by 20% for luxury hotels and 12% for more economical places like motels.
Today, the Italian hospitality sector has recorded very encouraging results, which are forecast to improve over time. In fact, to meet demand from tourism, more investment is needed to improve accommodation facilities, develop new services to expand supply and modernise networks and infrastructure to make the country usable and accessible.
Now is the moment to make these investments as the market is favourable, given that the income situation of Italian hotels is improving after almost 15 years of disappointing results. The market has started growing again in the last two years at rates above the European average, with the rate of room occupancy and prices also increasing.
Last year, the impact of active hotels on total real estate transactions in Italy was 2.5% (+3.9% compared to 2016). Although the number of corporate hotels bought and sold in Italy continues to grow, they still represent a minimal share (just over 3%) of the total number of hotels registered throughout Europe.
Curiously, the number of hotels that have changed managers in the last 12 months has also increased: once again, according to the survey carried out by Federalberghi in collaboration with World Capital, it appears that 2% of Italian hotels, or almost 600 establishments (two thirds of which are 3-star hotels), have changed ownership.
In addition, in 2017, there were an estimated 150 new hotel openings or more. For 2018, therefore, we can expect a return to values similar to those recorded in 2001, a record year for the hospitality sector.
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