Just how bad was Italy financially in 2020?

Whew! Those statistic are quite the eye-opener. Thank you so much for sharing this.
Prior to the pandemic, my husband and I have traveled extensively throughout Italy, and have met some of the loveliest people; this breaks my heart. We hope to visit again as soon as possible and hope our favorite family owned & operated restaurants, B&Bs and small hotels are still afloat. B&B owners (not Airbnb, I'm referring to real B&Bs) were always so grateful when we booked direct, so we will continue to do so in the future.

I am sure it’s going to be similar across much of Europe, due to lockdowns and little international travel. The U.K. from the same source has lost £148bn of travel revenue and 307,000 tourism jobs, despite the government’s furlough scheme protecting some jobs. Domestic tourism spending was down 63.2% and international spending down 71.6%.

It’s a difficult balance between protecting the health of the population and the hospital services vs tourism income.

Sobering numbers all round, but no great surprise. Unfortunately, unless vaccination rates are ramped up, 2021 isn’t going to be a good year either.

ADDENDUM.........The U.S. Travel and Tourism Industry lost $766 billion in 2020.

That's a 41% drop in the travel and tourism sector of the U.S. GDP.

That was a very tough year, and we’ve still got our round-trip Italy flights booked for Sept./Oct. 2021. looking at numbers, what if you divided the tourism sector and GDP effect by the number of Covid-19 fatalities or hospitalizations in a country? Or vaccination rates, or vaccine acceptance rates? Things are moving in the right direction lately, but slowly. Hope we can contribute to the Italian (and British, and American) economy healthy, and before too long.

Frank II, thanks very interesting information. I have yet to see, however, any good discussion or estimation of what the costs of doing nothing would have been, in lives and money. Lockdown is bad for the economy, but so is death and hospitalizations, people sick or taking care of the sick, etc.. There are lots of domino financial impacts from that. It seems like people consider lockdowns and public health measures as the enemy, rather than the pandemic itself.

My brother lives in Australia. They had a short, sharp close down and now, life, other than international travel is almost as it was 18 months ago. No lockdown, no social distancing and social events proceeding with no interruptions. Little impact on jobs, GDP or people’s mental and physical health.

For what it's worth: Over my 16 annual trips to Italy I have searched for the hotels, apartments, restaurants etc that became important to me personally. These are places where I am greeted by name and un grande abbraccio. The emotional connection is not just with the place but more with the people I met there. During this awful year I have sent messages of concern and hope. Some have lost loved ones and their pain was prolonged by the inability to bury with the Rites of the Church and the family embrace. Some are financially struggling because of lost income from business or employment. My message to them can only be: I will see you just as soon as possible because you have become that important to me. For me, my next trip will be a pilgrimage of consolation and a celebration of life (hopefully) returned to all of us. It may look like 'vacation' but my heart will know otherwise.

Jennifer, its the same here in Gsy, old normal with in our islands bubble 🙂

Robert, beautifully stated.

Reading about the lock downs, curfews etc that had been in place, I am surprised the decrease was not greater than what is stated.

I am surprised the decrease was not greater than what is stated

Last summer Italians couldn't go out of the EU and were "cordially invited" to spend their vacations in Italy. It's been the First time I have staied in Italy the all summer since I was 13.
Some Europeans were allowed to enter Italy, but many behaved like the Italians and decided to spend their money at home.

In 2019 non EU tourists generated revenues for 44 billions of Euro, 2.5% of the Italian GDP. You are well behind the Germans, shame on you!

approximately 337,000 people in Italy working in travel and tourism have lost their jobs. Others were able to keep their jobs because the Italian government subsidized up to 80% of the worker's salary.

A big problem is that in tourism only part of the workers are employees. The subsidized salary (called "cassa integrazione") is only for employees. All free lances received much less, depending by the kind of job and status they have. There are several workers whom received only few thousand of euros last year. This year (2021) guides like me received (at the present) around 1000€ and our activity is still forbidden (maybe will be allowed again in May).
Behind general numbers there are activities very much affected.

For what it's worth: Over my 16 annual trips to Italy I have searched
for the hotels, apartments, restaurants etc that became important to
me personally.

Robert, I get it--

Only three past trips here but for our next trip--hopefully April 2022--by train to Lucerne, Varenna, Florence & Rome, all except Varenna are return visits. And at those places we will stay at hotels and apartments we have stayed at and enjoyed before rather than try something new.

Although I'd love to venture to new destinations in Italy, our friends deserve our support, and in uncertain times a familiar face abroad is a good idea. I've already EMailed a couple of them and said look for us next year, fingers crossed!