According to new data from Istat, Italy’s official statistics office, Italians are taking fewer holidays, especially when it comes to destinations within the country.
In 2010, Italians took 100 million trips, but this huge number was actually a 12.4% decrease from a year before. The vacations are also getting noticeably shorter, with the number and length of overnight stays taking a plunge as well.
Overall vacations might be on the decline, but there was an additional drop in business travel. Italian workers took 18.4% fewer company related trips in 2010.
While Italians may be traveling less, 46.4% of residents still found the time and money to take a summer vacation. Summer was, by far, the most popular time for taking trips around the country and tourism within Italy remained fairly stable.
One clear winner in 2010? The Internet. There was a marked increase in the number of people who went online to book their Italian holidays, which means more travelers are turning on their computers before taking a tour.
