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The Verona-Russia axis is important for the city and province of Verona in terms of economy and tourism. Confcommercio President Paolo Arena makes no secret of pressing issues.
Paolo Arena, President of Confcommercio Verona, the most important organization in the tertiary sector market.
He was recently re-appointed at the head of the Catullo company that controls Verona airport.
Mr. President, in early November, Samarkand (Uzbekistan) will host the Eurasian Economic Forum that has always been viewed as an excellent opportunity for the economic operators of the Veneto region. How much does the city of Verona miss it?
The Verona Forum, over the years, has guaranteed a large number of participants, but above all, significant publicity due to the importance of the topics and the quality of the presence, both institutional and otherwise. So, there is obvious regret, especially on the part of tourism and accommodation entrepreneurs, about the transfer of the venue to other and more distant shores.
The war dealt a heavy blow to tourism and related industries. I believe the most critical situation involves uncertainty. How do companies associated with Confcommercio react to this?
Inbound tourism is greatly affected by the consequences of the current geopolitical situation. Russian tourists, like Americans and Chinese, are considered big spenders and big fans of five-star hotels and designer clothing boutiques. Before the pandemic, in 2019, about 1.7 million Russians stayed in Italy for tourism purposes, while 5.8 million people visited it.
Some data stands out above all…
According to the Italian national tourism agency Enit, Russian tourists preferred five provinces: Rimini (before the pandemic, 14.9% of all spending by Russian tourists in Italy was concentrated here), Rome (14.9%), Venice (9.1%), Milan (8.8%), and then Verona (7.1%). In April 2022, by Easter, national accommodation facilities had to cancel approximately 175 thousand overnight stays by Russian tourists and lost almost 20 million euros in turnover due to the war in Ukraine. The leak, which continues into 2023, albeit with some glimpses, is due to the rare presence of guests from those territories. Throughout the province of Verona, according to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Russian presence in 2019 amounted to 235,000 (11th market). Of these, 139,000 were in the municipality of Verona alone (third market after Germany and Great Britain). There were 69,000 of them in Lake Garda (14th market), and the remaining 27,000 in the rest of the province (eighth market). Therefore, companies are standing by, hoping that the situation will quickly improve and there will be a return of Russian tourism, which is difficult to replace.
I assume you are trying to provide answers to commercial operators who operate in this part of the world. What are entrepreneurs asking you to do?
The impact on trade relations with Russia, also affected by the embargo, and on tourism is also felt in the rest of the Verona economy, which had an important focus on Russia in terms of import-export for various sectors. The Verona Chamber of Commerce and Industry noted in 2021 the presence of 893 Verona companies involved in trade with Russia and 456 with Ukraine. Today, entrepreneurs are asking Confcommercio, the most important organization in the tertiary sector market, to intervene in the indirect but no less serious consequences of the crisis, namely the rise in prices of energy and raw materials in general, particularly anticipating the desired return of tourists and the resumption of normal life in trade exchanges. Our Association is actively working on the institutional front, locally and nationally, to best support companies in this difficult historical moment.
What kinds of sentiments prevail in the face of the current geopolitical situation, which is destroying dozens of companies and depriving Veneto of an important part of tourism?
Fortunately, the market tertiary sector is by design resilient and therefore capable of implementing solutions that at least partially limit the damage; there is no doubt that in the conditions of rising inflation and costs, companies are experiencing significant difficulties, while confidence, as shown by the latest research from the Italian national statistics institute ISTAT, is declining among both enterprises and consumers. Specifically, the decline in business confidence in August reflects the general deterioration in all sectors and is at its lowest level since November 2022.
