Tourism boom in South Tyrol: records, trends and Neumarkt's decline!

Tourism boom in South Tyrol: records, trends and Neumarkt's decline!

South Tyrol is one of the preferred holiday destinations in Italy. With its impressive mountain landscapes, picturesque wine-growing regions and culinary specialties such as dumplings and Kaiserschmarrn, the region is attracting more and more guests. According to the State Institute for Statistics (ASTAT), the number of guests in South Tyrol has increased dramatically since 1950. At that time, the region recorded around 330,000 holidaymakers, while this number rose to more than 8.7 million in 2024, an increase of around 2,500 percent.

A similar trend can also be observed in overnight stays: they rose from around 1.82 million in 1950 to over 37 million in 2024, an increase of 1,930 percent. Since 2003 in particular, arrival numbers have been growing faster than overnight stays, which indicates that guests are staying for shorter periods of time. Until the 1990s, Meran was the most popular holiday destination with a peak of around 1.2 million overnight stays. But Kastelruth has now taken the lead with 1.78 million overnight stays in 2024, while Neumarkt recorded a 52.2 percent decline in the number of overnight stays.

Records in tourism

The 2022/23 tourism year in South Tyrol exceeded all expectations: over 8.4 million guests booked at least one overnight stay, and the number of overnight stays exceeded the 36 million mark for the first time. A total of 11,747 accommodation establishments with 241,624 beds are available, meaning that the region is well visited even in high season. German guests accounted for the largest share, with 17.4 million overnight stays, which corresponds to around 48.3% of the total overnight stays.

In the previous year there was an increase in beds of 9,438. The high accommodation density is particularly evident in cities like Meran with 303.3 beds per square kilometer. Castelrotto had the largest offering with 9,487 beds, followed by Abbey and Wolkenstein. While the number of overnight stays fell by 1.1% in summer, there was a significant increase of 19.2% in winter, with 13.6 million overnight stays.

Challenges for the region

Despite tourism-related growth, there are also challenges. Last year, an explosion in the price of toilet paper in South Tyrol caused discontent among locals and visitors. Nevertheless, the positive development of tourism remains unbroken, which is due to the attractiveness of the region and the variety of offers. With a quality index of 4.3 and a constant increase in the various regions, South Tyrol shows that it can keep up with the demands of its guests.

The high level of interest in the region is reflected not only in the numbers, but also in the diversity of the guests. Overnight stays by tourists from Asia rose sharply by 78.5%, as well as from the USA (36.2%) and many European countries. In terms of length of stay, guests from Africa are also at the top with 6.6 days.

All of these factors make it clear that, despite certain challenges, South Tyrol continues to be considered one of the most attractive travel destinations, successfully serving both the needs of its guests and the quality of its services. The region remains an important attraction for holidaymakers from all over the world.

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