(ANSA) - BELGRADE, 10 NOV - According to the JFC Italian Mountain Tourism Observatory, Italians are struggling financially, while foreign visitors are playing an increasingly important role in snow-based tourism. The desire for a snow holiday remains strong—70% of Italians intend to take a mountain vacation—but choices are becoming more deliberate, cost-conscious, and last-minute; as of today, 34.4% of those planning a trip have already booked. The economic climate is weighing on Italian families: inflation increased to 5.4% in October, while the consumer confidence index fell to 91.2 points in September. Italians are not abandoning their snow vacations, but they are looking for ways to save money, such as packing lunches instead of dining at mountain huts, booking vacation rentals instead of hotels, and purchasing multi-day ski passes rather than full-week passes. Meanwhile, the number of international visitors is increasing; in the last three seasons, the internationalisation index has increased from 44.9% to 51.4%. Poland (cited by 23.2% of operators), Germany (13.9%), and the Czech Republic (13.6%) are expected to have the highest visitor flows, with arrivals from Poland, the Czech Republic, and the United States growing at the fastest rates. (ANSA).