ROME - Italian tourism is undergoing an unprecedented crisis, as shown by the figure for the employed, which fell to one fifth of the sector's normal workforce. It is then "absurd" to talk about sold out in mid-August, given the pneumatic vacuum of the cities of art, orphans not only of Americans, Russians, Chinese, Japanese and South Koreans but also Europeans, given the limitations and the expensive flights. Finally, it is to be hoped that the Relaunch 2 decree before and the Recovery Fund afterwards contain not generic measures, but "cut" specifically for tourism. It is the sense of all-round conversation that the president of Federterme Confidustria Massimo Caputi had with ANSA.
"There is only one certain data of the crisis - he explains - the number of employed. While in the traditional sectors there has already been a recovery of 80% of the workforce, in tourism we are only 20%. These are official figures of Confindustria and it is the only sure thing to measure the health of the sector ".
For this reason, according to Caputi, the hopes of the sector are linked to the interventions that the government will decide to launch starting from the assumption that tourism workers are not metal workers or workers in the food sector, but have very different problems and needs. "It is hoped - says Caputi - that the relaunch DL 2 has measures cut for tourism, particularly in terms of employment. For example, the drafts that are being made are not absolutely adequate for tourism problems, the measures cannot be generalistic. Finally we are also waiting for the Recovery Fund which is a great and unmissable opportunity to reset Italian tourism. But whoever thinks of restarting it by simply doing the railways in the South, means that he has not really understood anything. For tourism, the hotel park must be completely renewed Italian that is abundant, old and underused. We have almost double the number of rooms in France but only half full. "
Going back to Enit data that speak of sold out in mid-August, "sold out - he notes - perhaps there is on weekends and in some places, the central figure is the employment which is still very low". Caputi then underlines the tragic situation of the cities of art: "There is absolute emptiness, even on destinations from which a collapse does not await us. Rome is empty, we have gone from 200 thousand tourists a day to zero, to nothing, it is impressive. These are unequivocal data. Just look out onto via del Corso in Rome, you see it empty from start to finish while before it was a single snake of people ". Then Caputi brings to light another problem related to transport: "For foreigners we also have the problem of" expensive flights ": a Paris-Rome thing today 4 times what it cost last year, a Rome-Madrid goes above 450 euros. The planes, in fact, are on the ground and therefore the drastic reduction of the flights makes the incoming expensive also for foreigners. There has been a slight recovery of the Italian public, the Italians go around yes but they are holidays on Saturday and Sunday and maybe in the homes of friends and relatives ... The scary thing is to have lost 60% of the foreign incoming ".
As for the specific situation of the spas, Caputi explains: "The spas are a medical center and therefore a super-safe place, people appreciate this fact, but even here we have had to greatly reduce the inputs to respect social distancing. We work but in a way very moderate (we are below 50%) for the self-limitations aimed at safeguarding the health of customers, doctors and operators given by the "Safe spas" protocol.
The problem is the hotels linked to the spas that do not perform (but the problem is in all hotels of all types and unfortunately throughout Italy), people only come on Saturdays and Sundays. Again, to understand the drama, just take a tour of Rome or Florence ".
