Gualtieri says 2025 will be a turning point for Rome.

Rome's mayor has contested the narrative of "chaos" in the city during the Vatican's Jubilee Year, insisting that 2025 will be "a good year" to visit the Italian capital.

Roberto Gualtieri was speaking on Wednesday at Albergatore Day, an annual event organised by Rome hoteliers and representatives of the city's hospitality and tourism sectors.

"We do not accept the false stories about the chaos of Rome for the Jubilee Year" - Gualtieri told the conference - "Instead, it will be a good year to visit Rome. It will be a turning point."

The mayor defended the work carried out in Rome for the Jubilee, challenging the narrative that the city is paralysed by construction sites, is dirty and is difficult to govern.

Citing the record 22 million tourists welcomed by the capital last year as proof of "what Rome can do", Gualtieri said a team effort has shown that the city "is not ungovernable", adding: "Rome is proving to be a great European capital, organised, clean and tidy."

Marvellous image of Rome

Bernabò Bocca, president of hotel association Federalberghi, said the Jubilee "must be a year of investment in tourism" to ensure a "marvellous image of Rome goes around the world" so that "we can reap the benefits in 2026 and beyond."

Bocca drew comparisons with the Jubilee of 2000, stating there was "a very slight increase in attendance in that Jubilee year compared to 1999 but there was a 17 per cent increase in 2001."

Giuseppe Roscioli, president of the Rome branch of Federalberghi, said that "2025 has started off on a slow note for hotels, but we remain optimistic for the coming months, counting on the fact that the most popular Jubilee events scheduled to take place are starting in spring."

Roscioli said that the city's hotel occupancy rates are "so far slightly lower than the same period last year" but noted that January is "traditionally a very low season for Rome and the Jubilee always attracts tourism that largely does not favour hotel facilities".

Key boxes

Rome's tourism councillor Alessandro Onorato on Wednesday oversaw a new blitz against key boxes, widely used by tourists to independently gain access to their short-term rentals.

Joined by city authorities and local police in the central Monti district, Onorato said that an email address has been set up for people to report the locations of key boxes: taskforce.polizialocale@comune.roma.it.

"We hope that by keeping the focus high and making these constant removals for a month, the managers themselves will understand that this game has lasted too long" - Onorato said - "We will remove them from public spaces as well as from private spaces. Today is just the beginning until decorum and legality prevail."

According to estimates from the chamber of commerce, published in November by Italy's tourism ministry, the Jubilee 2025 "will bring 35 million arrivals and an expenditure of almost €17 billion in Rome".