Garda Full for Easter: High Tourist Demand and Limited Availability
A fully booked Easter on Garda. Difficult if not impossible from tomorrow the 21st to Monday the 24th to find an available bed along the entire coastline. For days now, there’s been a flurry of calls, but the response from both hoteliers and travel agencies, as well as from trade and tourist information offices, is the same refrain: “We are fully booked.”
Reservation Status and Tourist Situation
If the weather turns sunny, it will be a challenge to find accommodation even in the days following Easter Monday, considering that with each passing day, bookings also increase for the last weekend of April linked to the May 1st holiday.
“We are overwhelmed with requests,” state the Malcesine information office, “and there are no available vacancies until Monday. Good bookings are coming in for the beginning of May as well, not only from German clients.”
Opinions of Tourism Operators
The confirmation comes also from Ugo Treccani, president of the hotel association: “We are turning people away constantly, and as far as we’re concerned,” says Treccani of Hotel Castello, “the hotel will more or less be full until May 6th or 7th. As a positive note, we’re seeing the return of Italian tourists. If the weather cooperates, it will be a memorable Easter holiday.”
From Torri, the local hotel owners’ association president, Alberto Galvani, owner of the hotel of the same name, echoes: “We’ve blocked the hotel for the Easter holidays more than a month ago, with bookings split evenly between Germans and Italians. If good weather appears, there’s no doubt that many will be keen to extend their stay.”
Future Outlook and Tourist Demand
Giuseppe Squarzoni, head of the Brenzone hoteliers and owner of Hotel Du Lac, agrees that the moment is “particularly favorable.” The Alto Garda area is starting the new tourist season with fully booked availability for at least three or four days, and prospects look more than promising for the first decade of May. “We’ll see what happens,” say travel agencies, “especially since German tourists, in particular, have adapted to the Italian habit of booking last-minute stays.”
“Before embarking,” the agencies add, “on quick, short stays, tourists wait for forecasts from meteorologists, and they’re not entirely wrong to do so.”
Transfers and Alternative Offers
With Garda congested and all beds occupied, bookings are naturally redirected inland in search of available accommodations in Caprino Veronese, as well as in Affi and Cavaion, which continuously see an increasing availability of modern accommodations.
All campsites are also open in the Me- a area, “God and low lake,” for several days now, capable of hosting even the most discerning clientele in the sector, in newly renovated facilities. These are particularly accessible to tourists increasingly traveling by auto-caravan—ministerial term for motorhomes, camper vans, and motor caravans, which have now replaced bulky caravans.
There is no availability for Easter in Garda and Bardolino hotels, nor in those of Lazise and Peschiera. Hoteliers are therefore trying to extend the high-demand period by taking advantage of opportunities in the following weekends, with organized school trips visiting amusement parks and with elderly tourists.
They are also offering stay packages for a week at special rates, including lake excursions or visits to art cities and, in particular, Verona, to see Jubilee churches.
Low Season Events and Holidays
Initiatives designed to cover low season periods after Easter holidays, leading to June, which this year appears particularly interesting for quick short stays, with classic long weekends linked to religious holidays of Ascension (April 25/28), Pentecost (June 11/12), and Corpus Domini (June 22/25).
