A survey by an Italian tourism industry association says that the country has witnessed a huge expansion in number of international visitors and that several of its key source markets are back to 2019 levels.

As the year 2022 progresses, Italy is seeing a massive jump in its tourism industry, with international visitors arrivals sharply higher from 2021 levels and for some key source markets like the United Kingdom or the United States, the numbers are already back at the pre-pandemic levels of 2019.

Industry experts say that Italy has consistently been among the top destinations for European summer bookings since international travel returned in the spring, and travel demand has soared to levels not seen since the start of the pandemic.

“Summer 2022 bookings for Italy have been extremely in demand with approximately 75 pc of my bookings since April being for Italy,” says a travel agent in United States.

Italy’s tourism numbers are on track to recover this year, with international arrivals from Canada, Australia, England and Spain returning to 2019 levels, according to Confcommercio, an Italian organisation that represents tourism businesses.

Confcommercio adds that leading the charge to the Mediterranean country are the American tourists who the organisation says are the number one market driving Italy’s tourism recovery.

A recent Confcommercio survey found that about 2.2 million Americans are expected to visit Italy by the end of summer and projected to spend EUR 2.1 billion between July and September, about 20 pc more than even in corresponding period in 2019.

The travel industry players say that the people driving the revival are honeymooners as well as those who are celebrating their anniversaries and those completing trips postponed from 2020. Many of the bookings are now almost last minute, being a month or two ahead of travel dates, instead of six-nine months in advance in the pre-pandemic period.

The Amalfi Coast has been the most in-demand destination for Fortunato’s Italy bookings this year, followed by Tuscany, Rome, Florence and Venice. Also popular are river cruise trips and rail journeys.