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

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

Neumarkt, Italien - South Tyrol is one of the preferred holiday destinations in Italy. With its impressive mountain landscapes, the picturesque wine growing areas as well as 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 vacationers, while this number already increased to more than 8.7 million in 2024, which corresponds to an increase of around 2,500 percent.

A similar trend can also be observed in the overnight stays: They rose from around 1.82 million in 1950 to over 37 million in 2024, which corresponds to an increase of 1,930 percent. In particular, the number of arrival has been evident since 2003, which grow faster than the overnight stays, which indicates shorter stays of the guests. Until the 1990s, Merano was the most popular holiday destination with a maximum of around 1.2 million overnight stays. But now Kastelruth took the lead with 1.78 million overnight stays in 2024, while Neumarkt recorded a decline of 52.2 percent in the number of overnight stays.

records in tourism

The tourism year 2022/23 exceeded all expectations in South Tyrol: over 8.4 million guests booked at least one night, and the number of overnight stays exceeded the 36 million mark for the first time. A total of 11,747 accommodation companies with 241,624 beds are available, so that the region is also well attended in the high season. The German guests took the largest proportion, with 17.4 million overnight stays, which corresponds to about 48.3% of the total overnight stays.

In the previous year there was an increase in beds around 9,438. The high accommodation density is particularly evident in cities like Merano with 303.3 beds per square kilometer. With 9,487 beds, Kastelruth made the largest offer, followed by Abtei and Wolkenstein. While the number of overnight stays declined 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 the tourism -related growth, there are also challenges. Last year, a prices explosion at the toilet paper in South Tyrol caused resentment among the locals and visitors. Nevertheless, the positive development of tourism remains unbroken, which is due to the attractiveness of the region and the multitude of offers. With a quality index of 4.3 and a constant increase in the different regions, South Tyrol shows that it can keep up with the requirements of the guests.

The high interest in the region is not only reflected in the numbers, but also in the variety of guests. The overnight stays of tourists from Asia have increased by 78.5% and from the USA (36.2%) and many European countries. Also with regard to the length of stay, the guests from Africa are at the top with 6.6 days.

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

Derwesten reports that ... Südtirol News adds that ...