At the end of 2023, the tourism sector recorded a default rate of 4,1% for joint-stock companies, stable compared to the previous period, but among the highest in Italy, confirming itself as one of the riskiest sectors (the average rate for Italian joint-stock companies is 2,6%).
It establishes it Crif – Central Financial Risks, a company that offers credit analysis and information for the control of financial risks, underlines the reasons Luca D'Amico, CEO di Crif Ratings: “Businesses in the tourism sector have seen significant growth in turnover in recent years, benefiting from the increase in both domestic and foreign tourist flows. Despite this positive phenomenon, the sector is positioned at above-average levels in terms of credit risk, reflecting a highly competitive market context and an uncertain macroeconomic scenario both nationally and globally. The latter will continue to influence the sector's riskiness in 2024, with default rates expected to rise by the end of the year”.
The analysis by micro-sectors highlights a heterogeneous trend, with the restaurant/bar which has the highest credit risk, with a default rate of around 5%. Restaurants and bars in particular have on-time payments only in 17,7% of cases (compared to 28,7% found in travel agencies and hotels) and delays exceeding 30 days in 19,4% of cases (a percentage more than double that observed in travel agencies and hotels).
In general – as noted by the Cribis Payment Study 2024, a company of the Crif group specializing in business information – the tourism sector suffers more than the average Italian companies for payments of own suppliers. Compared to the average figure, in fact, the sector has fewer punctual payers (20%) and a greater number of seriously late payers (17,4%). However, it must be kept in mind that the sector is characterized by seasonality issues that impact performance.
The tourism sector in Italy has over 400 thousand businesses, divided between travel agencies (about 12.300), restaurants and bars (321.400) and hotels (66.600). 97% is distributed between catering and hospitality. In 41% of cases these are individual companies, followed by joint-stock companies (33%) and individuals (25%).
A little bit more than one third of tourism businesses is concentrated in Noon and in Islands, confirming the fact that these are the territories that drive the sector the most. The region with the highest presence is the Lombardia (13,5%), followed by Lazio (11%) and Campania (10,3%).
