Assoturismo, a weekend on the upswing, but a city of art crisis

(ANSA) - ROME, JULY 18 - Signs of life from the sea and the mountains, matured in half in the cities of art. A weekend in chiaroscuro for Italian tourism: seaside and mountain resorts return to having the flow of visitors grow, but cultural destinations remain in crisis, with only 51% of the rooms available booked This is what emerges from the latest survey conducted by the Centro Studi Turistici per Assoturismo Confesercenti on the availability of rooms on the portals of the main online travel agencies for the weekend of 18 and 19 July.
    Suffering in particular are Rome and Florence, where just over a third of the availability (36%) is booked. Even Naples (38%) and Venice (42%); Palermo (45%), Milan (46%) and Bologna (49%) do a little better, while they record results higher than the average of the other cities of art - even if unsatisfactory - Perugia (54%) and Matera (55%) . Lacrisi of the cities of art is mainly attributable to the lack of foreign tourism, which on average - during the summer season - is worth about 68% of the presences. According to Lestime Assoturismo-CST, in the summer quarter 2020 (June-July-August) in the Rome, Venice, Florence, Milan and Naples alone there will be about 8.5 million appearances in less than the same period of 2019.
    "The combined absence of tourists and smartworking is emptying the cities of art and literally killing the historic centers, which are becoming red areas of the economy," comments the president of Assoturismo VittorioMessina. "An intensive care unit is needed, to deal with an apparently infinite crisis that is seriously compromising not only hospitality and tourist services businesses, but also bars, restaurants and shops of the metecultural and historical centers, which are now out of breath.
   Companies that must be sustained longer, with a contribution from the non-repayable fund, social safety nets and tax credit for rents. If we do not hurry, we run the serious risk of losing the good things that have been done in recent years on the tourism front, with thousands of activities that will not arrive to see autumn ". (HANDLE).