Tourism in Rome: Increasing Demand for Easter and the Marathon

The spring is the best time to visit art cities and Rome. After two years of pandemic, the city is trying to recover its market share. The Capital was the most affected Italian tourist destination by the health crisis: considering only 2020, it lost 24.4 million tourist presences, about 79.0% of the total.

The new local administration is investing heavily to return to pre-Covid flows, especially in organizing major events: in addition to the city’s bid for Expo2030, announced just recently, the next international event will be the Acea Run Rome, the famous marathon held annually in the city’s historic center.

More than ten thousand people (mostly foreigners) have already registered for the race, which will undoubtedly impact city tourism. According to data directly from accommodation facilities, searches for overnight stays for the weekend of March 25-27 have increased by +8.2% in the last six weeks. Most of the interested tourists are foreigners (53.3%) compared to Italians (46.7%), but in both cases, the average stay does not exceed three nights.

A very positive factor, especially given the particular historical period we are in, is the return of Americans: they are the leading foreign markets, and despite an initial slowdown due to the outbreak of war in Ukraine, demand is growing. According to research, U.S. tourists have an average stay of 2.9 nights, with couples being the predominant segment.

But the most searched period by tourists is Easter weekend: the city’s tourist operators were watching the foreign market with concern, fearing (and still fearing) that wartime events could discourage demand. However, tourists continue searching for overnight stays in Rome: both Italians and foreigners show increasing demand for Easter weekend, especially between March 3 and 13.

In this case, foreigners represent a large market share (51.5%): searches mainly come from the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain. Tourists are mainly searching for accommodations in the Centro area (Municipality I), Ostiense District, and Trionfale District.

The average stay for Italians is three nights; for foreigners, it is 3.5 nights for Americans, 3.6 nights for French, 3.3 nights for Germans, 2.8 nights for English, and 3.3 nights for Spanish. Finally, the demand for overnight stays during Easter weekend is mainly composed of couples (56%) and families (33%): it is primarily foreigners searching for couple stays, while the predominant segment for Italians is families.