Strong growth in tourism for the Christmas holidays: travelers from abroad will guarantee 3.5 billion in economic impact. Mountains at the top and Milan and Venice among the most requested destinations
With the Christmas holidays upon us, more and more foreign tourists are choosing our country as a destination to spend their holidays, from the mountains to the coast without forgetting the cities of art.
Airport arrivals
According to Enit data, there are already 4 million foreign travelers who have already booked their plane ticket between December and January, with spending reaching 3.5 billion euros. As for domestic flights, bookings have reached 400,000.
Looking at the month of December, 2.4 million airport arrivals are expected from abroad. And compared to last Christmas, we are talking about growth of 6.1%. This trend is also confirmed in January 2026: 1.9 million arrivals have already been booked in Italian airports, marking a growth of 4.4% compared to January 2024.
Therefore, as underlined by the CEO of Enit SpA, Ivana Jelinic: «Italy confirms its leading role in tourism also in this last phase of the year. Between Christmas and New Year we recorded a significant growth compared to last year in arrivals from abroad, demonstrating how competitive and attractive our destinations are.”
In the ranking of countries preferred by foreign travellers, Italy is therefore in second place. Spain precedes it, while France and Turkey follow it. This result was celebrated by the Minister of Tourism, Daniela Santanchè, who declared: «The beautiful country, from North to South, consolidates its role as a privileged tourist destination in the European market, performing better than competitors such as France and Türkiye.”
Who chooses the Bel Paese
Spain is the main source market, with 610,000 airport arrivals. The United Kingdom ranks second, followed by France and Germany. Arrivals from Poland, Albania, Romania, the Netherlands and Belgium are also increasing.
The destinations
The Statistics Office of the Ministry of Tourism has revealed that the mountains are the most requested destination, with a booking rate reaching 46.6%, while among the cultural regions Lazio, Lombardy and Veneto stand out. Southern destinations are also growing, led by Calabria, Molise and Basilicata. Furthermore, between 1 December 2025 and 11 January 2026, the national average Ota saturation is equal to 35.7%. Among the most popular destinations are Milan, with 1.6 million arrivals in the city’s airports, Rome, Venice, Naples and Bologna.
In this regard, Santanchè stated that the results are «also made possible by the catalyst of the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics, which thus begins to generate the first fruits. On the other hand, it is no coincidence that, on the podium of major destinations, Milan and Venice appear, respectively, in first and third place for airport stopovers and Lombardy and Veneto in the top positions for OTA bookings. Major events, once again, are seen as important drivers of tourism and socio-economic development for the host cities and regions and, by extension, for the entire nation.”
