Tourist bus alarm, 6,700 drivers are missing in Italy

There are 6,700 tourist bus drivers missing in Italy, equal to 40% of the needs in Europe (about 17,000 in total). In this regard, it is necessary to encourage the entry of young people and foreigners, lowering the access thresholds, both in terms of costs and age, and expanding the training channels. In tourism, activities related to transport represent 1% of businesses, but a good 10% of employees, 18% of turnover and 21% of the added value generated by the sector. Furthermore, in Italy the share of tourist transport by bus is higher than the European average (8% against 6%). It emerges from the survey by An.Bti, the National Association of Italian Tourist Buses adhering to Confcommercio, carried out in collaboration with Isfort, “The wheels of tourism: the tourist bus sector in Italy”. “The tourist bus sector – says Riccardo Verona, President of An.Bti – has raised its head again after years of extreme difficulty, but the restart is in any case accompanied by too many uncertainties. Today more than ever, the support of the institutions is needed because we need of aid first of all for the sustainable renewal of vehicles, which cannot be supported only by our companies.Secondly, it is essential to find solutions to remedy the shortage of traveling personnel and at the same time proceed with the structural recognition, on a par with other sectors, of the concessions on excise duties on fuel. The time has come to recognize the uniqueness, peculiarity and flexibility of our service which is without limitations of any kind, nor of times or routes. We are “the wheels of tourism” and we want to continue to be with increasing quality and efficiency”. The uncertainty factor, linked to inflation, the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and the cost of fuel (price variation of up to 50% between 2022 and 2023), in fact, undermines the foundations of organized tourism, i.e. long-term planning: the costs and rates may vary from month to month.

The sector, strongly affected by the pandemic with a drop in turnover of over 50% in the period 2020-21, is experiencing a profound transformation and is today substantially leaner (number of companies almost halved and 10% reduction in the vehicle fleet), but also more solid (growth in the average size of companies and in the average number of vehicles) and more efficient and sustainable (over half of the vehicle fleet is of the latest generation and with reduced harmful emissions). There are 3,404 bus rental companies with driver (-42% compared to 2017) in Italy. More than a third are in the North (17.9% in the North East and 19.8% in the North West), while the greatest decline (over 10% on 2017) was recorded in the South (excluding the islands). Lazio is the region with the highest number of companies in the sector (397), followed by Lombardy (389), Campania (372) and Sicily (362), while at the provincial level the ranking is led by Rome (270), with Naples (159) and Milan (116) closely. Furthermore, between 2017 and 2022 the average number of vehicles per company grew by 52% (from 4 to 6) and the average number of employees almost doubled (from 6 to 11). The territorial distribution of rental buses generally follows that of companies. In relative terms, the fleet is greater in the Centre-North (56.9%) even if the South (South and Islands) is not far away.