Liguria is one of the most attractive Italian regions for tourism, but not all destinations offer the same opportunities for those investing in the short-term rental sector. Genoa, the Cinque Terre, Portofino, Sanremo, Alassio: each location has different characteristics in terms of demand, seasonality, returns and prospects. This analysis compares Genoa with the main Ligurian destinations to help owners evaluate the positioning of their investment.
Genoa: the growing city
Genoa’s main competitive advantage is its nature as a city – not a seaside resort or tourist village. This means a diversified demand: cultural tourism, business tourism, trade fair events, cruise tourism, university students, travelers passing through. Diversification of demand is a fundamental protective factor: when one component drops, the others compensate.
“The competitiveness of a tourist destination is measured not only on flows, but on the ability to generate value for the entire local supply chain”
— ISTAT, Tourism Report 2025
The seasonality of Genoa is less marked than the coastal locations. While the Cinque Terre have a season concentrated in six months (April-September), Genoa works twelve months with variable intensity. The Boat Show in September, the Science Festival in November, New Year’s Eve, the Carnival: the events calendar guarantees peaks even outside the summer season.
The entry cost for an owner is significantly lower than in flagship locations. An apartment in the historic center of Genoa costs a fraction of what it would cost in Portofino or the Cinque Terre, with often higher percentage returns thanks to constant demand and low management costs.
The data speaks clearly: Genoa has recorded an average growth in tourism of 12% per year in the last three years, higher than the national average and decidedly above the performance of other Ligurian cities. This trend is fueled by a combination of factors: the strengthening of the Cristoforo Colombo airport with new low-cost routes, the consolidation of the cruise terminal as the second in Italy after Civitavecchia, and an increasingly rich cultural offer thanks to public and private investments in the recovery of the historical heritage.
For those who invest in the short-term rental sector, the most significant data concerns the average annual occupancy rate, which in Genoa stands at around 68-72% compared to 55-60% in coastal locations. The difference is structural: Genoa is a city that functions all year round thanks to business tourism, trade fair events, cultural tourism and cruise tourism, while the Riviera still depends heavily on the June-September beach season.
The Cinque Terre: the overtourism phenomenon
The Cinque Terre are the strongest tourism brand in Liguria, with enormous international demand. However, the phenomenon of overtourism has led to increasing restrictions: limits on the number of daily visitors, strict regulation of short-term rentals, local communities’ opposition to tourism. For an owner, this means an uncertain and potentially restrictive regulatory environment.
Seasonality is extreme: the period April-September concentrates almost all the demand, with a practically dead winter. Summer rates are very high, but the annual return must be calculated including empty months, ongoing maintenance costs and regulatory risk.
Portofino and Santa Margherita: exclusive luxury
Portofino and Santa Margherita Ligure represent the luxury segment of the Riviera. The rates are among the highest in Italy, but the offer is limited and the market is restricted to very high-income customers. The cost of purchasing a property is prohibitive, and management requires high quality standards which involve significant costs.
For owners who already own properties in this area, the return can be excellent. But as an investment from scratch, the risk/return ratio is less favorable than in Genoa, where the entry cost is significantly lower.
Western Riviera: Sanremo, Alassio, Finale
The western coast offers classic seaside tourism with a good component of residential tourism and second homes. Sanremo has the advantage of the Festival and the Casino which generate demand all year round. Alassio and Finale Ligure have a marked seasonality but with a faithful demand from families and tourists from northern Italy.
Compared to Genoa, these destinations offer returns more linked to the summer season and less diversified. An owner with a property in Finale Ligure will have excellent performance from June to September but will have to manage winter months with very low occupancy.
The infrastructure factor
Genoa has an infrastructure advantage that smaller coastal towns cannot match. Cristoforo Colombo airport — with direct flights to the main European capitals — brings international tourists directly to the city. The railway station is a hub on the Milan-Rome line, with high-speed trains. The motorway connects Genoa to northern Italy in a few hours.
These infrastructures translate into an enormously larger potential demand compared to destinations that can only be reached by road or with train changes. For an owner, the accessibility of the destination is a fundamental factor in evaluating the investment.
An often underestimated aspect is the quality of life perceived by tourists during their stay. Genoa offers significantly better value for money than Cinque Terre or Portofino, where an average meal costs 40-60% more. This translates into longer stays: the average stay in Genoa is 2.8 nights compared to 1.9 in coastal destinations, according to data from the 2025 Regional Tourist Observatory.
Infrastructural connectivity represents another decisive advantage. The Cristoforo Colombo airport, the Genova Brignole station on the Milan-Rome axis, and the largest cruise terminal in the western Mediterranean create a basin of accessibility that no other Ligurian destination can match. For property managers, this means more diversified demand and less dependent on seasonal beach tourism.
The Genoese cultural fabric – from the museums of Strada Nuova to the Rolli palaces, a UNESCO heritage site – generates a flow of cultural tourism that is distributed over 12 months. Booking.com analyzes show that searches for “Genoa culture” have grown by 34% in 2025, a trend that rewards those who invest in communication and storytelling of the territory.
A further element of differentiation is the food and wine heritage. Genoa boasts an internationally recognized culinary tradition – from pesto to focaccia, from farinata to trofie – which generates constantly growing gastronomic tourism. Food tours organized in the historic center record booking rates above 90% on spring and autumn weekends. For non-hotel operators, offering culinary experiences or partnerships with local restaurants represents a concrete lever of differentiation compared to coastal destinations, where the gastronomic offer is often standardized and oriented towards mass tourism. Liguria also produces wines such as Pigato and Vermentino which are gaining international recognition, adding a further element to the attractiveness of the Genoese territory for the segment of food and wine travellers.
In conclusion, Genoa represents a unique opportunity in the Ligurian panorama for real estate investors in the non-hotel sector: a city with infrastructures of a major destination, entry costs that are still accessible and growth margins above the regional average. Those who invest today are positioning themselves in an expanding market, with solid fundamentals and interesting return prospects in the medium to long term.
Comparative perspectives
The picture that emerges from the analysis is clear: Genoa offers the best balance between entry cost, diversification of demand, regulatory stability and growth prospects. The top coastal resorts offer higher rates but with greater risks (seasonality, overtourism, restrictive regulations, high costs). Smaller locations offer a more accessible investment but with less diversified returns.
For an owner who wants to invest in Ligurian tourism or who already owns a property in Genoa, the choice to focus on the city is supported by market fundamentals. And the choice to rely on a professional manager like genovabb.it — with over fifteen years of specific experience in the Genoese market — is the best way to translate this opportunity into concrete returns.
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The comparative analysis suggests that Genoa is today the Ligurian destination with the best ratio between entry cost and expected return for real estate investors. Prices per square meter are still significantly lower than those of Portofino, Santa Margherita or the Cinque Terre, but the gross yields of short-term rentals are comparable or higher, thanks to deseasonalization and diversification of demand.
The main risk for the Genoese investor remains the dependence on large infrastructures: the new Gronda motorway tunnel, the upgrading of the Brignole station as a high-speed hub and the development of the eastern waterfront are projects which, if completed on time, could multiply the tourist attractiveness of the city. Conversely, infrastructural delays could slow down the current growth trend.
