PALERMO - The tourism promotion plan of the Sicily Region, See Sicily, is about to start, which provides a package of services for those arriving on the island, including one free night for every 3 of stay.
This was confirmed by the Tourism Councilor of the Region Manlio Messina, on the eve of the Milan International Tourism Exchange scheduled from 9 to 14 May in a completely online version.
See Sicily, which foresees investments of around 75 million euros, aims to relaunch the sector after a critical year due to the health emergency.
"Despite the positive peak of last summer, the balance is absolutely negative - said the commissioner - we have had losses of 70-75% and even 90% in some areas". Counting on a summer "no worse than last year, hoping even better", according to the commissioner a lot will depend on the vaccination campaign "and in Sicily we asked to be able to take a Covid free path in the smaller islands, but we are still waiting for answers in this one. direction". "In this regard, I would like to underline that the Covid free problem for the smaller islands is not only of a tourist nature - he explained - but even more of health security and a logistical problem: to vaccinate the inhabitants, the personnel in charge must go to the island specifically,going back and forth first for a few dozen over 80s, then for the others, when it would be easier and faster to vaccinate all together ".
As for the summer restart, "we are obviously preparing ourselves in the best possible way with the safety protocols, and the See Sicily tourist package, in addition to one night every three paid by the Sicilian Region, also includes free guided tours, entrances to museums, archaeological parks, sites of interest ". From October the promotional offer will also extend to air travel with the aim of enticing tourists to arrive in Sicily even after the summer. "We are also focusing on deseasonalization - Messina said - we are already projected towards autumn, filling Sicily with events that will start in October, such as the Sports Tourism Fair, a festival dedicated to Vincenzo Bellini up to a great project for Christmas". "We must be increasingly aware that tourism is a 'industry ", he concluded.