Fewer traditional hotels, many more accommodations for short stays and a restaurant that, between lights and shadows, continues to withstand the impact of changes. This is the picture that emerges from Unioncamere InfoCamere’s analysis of accommodation and catering services activities over the last five years.
The data as of 30 September 2025 show a profound transformation of the Italian tourist offer: classic hotels are retreating, while non-hotel structures linked to short stays are growing strongly, especially in large cities and the most attractive destinations, where tensions linked to overtourism are also intensifying.
In this scenario, catering confirms its role in maintaining and protecting the territories economically, intercepting the demand for conviviality typical of the holidays. In five years, hotels and similar accommodation services businesses decreased by 5.2% at a national level (-1,604 units), reaching 29,199 businesses.
The downsizing concerns most of the regions, with more marked drops in Lazio (-13.3%), Marche (-12.9%) and Molise (-10.1%). The areas with a stronger winter tourist vocation, such as Trentino-Alto Adige and Valle d’Aosta, show greater stability, confirming the role of mountain and Christmas tourism. At a provincial level, the weight of Bolzano, Rimini, Rome and Naples stands out which, despite the contractions, remain among the main centers of the traditional hotel offer.
On the other hand, the holiday and short-stay accommodation sector is experiencing strong expansion, growing by 42.1% in five years, with over 13 thousand more businesses and a national total of 44,801 units. The increase is more intense in the large cities of art and in the most attractive tourist destinations in the Christmas period: Rome (+33.8%), Naples (+98.1%), Milan (+75.9%), Florence (+21.3%), but also in numerous provinces of Southern Italy and the islands.
The phenomenon marks a profound reconfiguration of the accommodation offer, also linked to the spread of digital platforms, with a structural change in travellers’ preferences, increasingly oriented towards flexible solutions, especially for short stays linked to holidays and events. The activities of restaurants with table service, protagonists of Christmas tables, show a more stable dynamic: at a national level they grow by 2.3% compared to 2021, reaching 159,494 businesses.
The regional picture is heterogeneous: significant increases in Sicily (+10.5%), Sardinia (+8.3%) and Calabria (+6.0%), while some regions in the Centre-North record slight declines. The large metropolitan provinces remain at the top of the ranking: Rome (13,927 companies), Milan (8,954), Naples (7,574) and Turin (6,127).
Alongside these, signs of vitality emerge in numerous provinces in the South and on the islands, such as Palermo, Cagliari, Trapani and Syracuse, which are recording significant increases. The sector thus confirms its role as an economic and social support, capable of intercepting the demand linked to the moments of conviviality typical of Christmas.