MILAN - Around 380 firms, in 20 Regions and autonomous Provinces, in 170 thermal Municipalities, with 65,000 direct and indirect employees, with 2,700,000 customers in 2011: these are the numbers of the Italian thermal system according to the last data provided by Federterme. A "model system" at the service of Italian citizens, highly esteemed also in Europe, based on the therapeutic specificities of thermal waters, on scientific research, on the professionalism of employees, on the rules regulating the quality of the services provided to consumers.
Italy and thermal waters
If we consider its particular geological configuration, we understand that Italy's economy has always had the use of thermal waters at its core. The thermal locations and those associated with wellness tourism, welcome 4.2% of the tourist presences estimated in the accommodation facilities (both hotel and not) in Italy, corresponding to more than 15 million customers a year. From a territorial point of view, one can see how facilities are concentrated in a few regions. The distribution between the various areas and reference regions is indeed conditioned by the strong incidence of facilities at sites providing accommodation.
Campania has the highest number of thermal facilities
The regions with the highest number of thermal facilities are Campania (114) and Veneto (110), followed in order by Emilia Romagna (24), Tuscany (22), Lazio (18) and Lombardy (16). For Campania and Veneto, given the particular nature of the offer, based indeed on thermal bath hotels, the phenomenon is difficult to quantify, as many services provided are included within specific packages on offer and are not counted.
Customer profile
People that use thermal services are termed "curisti" (i.e. the “cure tourists”). They visit thermal baths nearly exclusively to undergo certain therapies. In the most part, they belong to older age groups, they stays for a significant amount of time and are very loyal both to thermal baths and to the associated accommodation facilities, as they prefer a half or even a full board service.
Expenditure in thermal locations
For thermal holidays in Italy, tourists have spent, on average, 100 Euros for the journey and around 76 Euros for accommodation, per person. The data show excellent sale performances by hotels and other forms of accommodation in thermal locations.
by editorial staff
