"Unjustly discriminated against". After the grumbling of the bathing establishments and the protests of the entertainment operators, the anger of the amusement parks arrives, over 230 those registered in Italy, which the new decree on arrival plans to allow to restart only from 1 July. And from Gardaland to Leolandia, up to the many more modest realities, the whole sector launches its appeal to the ministers and Prime Minister Draghi, ready, he assures, even "for sensational actions". Crying out for help and fairness of treatment for a sector that has also been an important voice of the national economy, with a turnover that only in 2019 - alas, light years away - generated a turnover of 400 million euro, 1000 if you look at hotels, restaurants and merchandising. Is that,except for 5/6 big players linked to multinationals and Leolandia (one of the few large parks still entirely Italian) is made up of small and medium-sized enterprises.
The first to expose itself, pointing the finger at the decisions of the CTS and the government is Gardaland: "in the US and in Great Britain the parks are among the first activities to restart", underlines the CEO Aldo Maria Vigevani. Which denounces the absurdity of a decision that seems to assimilate the "almost exclusively outdoor" activity of these structures with the indoor events of fairs and congresses. Topics shared by the Italian Permanent Parks Association, member of Confindustria, which represents 230 companies scattered throughout the national territory. "Solid scientific evidence of international standing has shown that the risks of contagion in the open air are infinitely lower and it has been proven that the presence of chlorine in swimming pools eliminates the viral agent in a few moments",they point out from the association underlining that by doing so the government takes away from these companies a whole month of work even compared to last year when the green light came at the end of May.
The tones are exasperated: "The difference in treatment compared to other categories can be configured in a real unfair competition", reports Giuseppe Ira, president of the association and the theme park of Leolandia in the province of Bergamo. He is the one who underlines the growing feeling of anger that animates the operators "We are treated worse than the arcades", the accusation recalling the many measures put in place to guarantee the safety of the public, from the quota of entrances to avoid gatherings to the "strict protocols that have already proven their effectiveness last year ". Comparisons are almost inevitable: "the indoor museums open as early as April 26, but not the outdoor wildlife parks and adventure parks in the woods, the green light is given to outdoor swimming pools.open on May 15, now all equipped with slides for children, but not in the water parks, gyms and restaurants open indoors from June 1 and even the return of the public in the stadiums is announced in May, but not in the theme parks " .
Hence the requests: "We ask for immediate equality with similar product sectors - says Ira - otherwise we will have to take sensational actions". Among the most affected by the crisis, the manager recalls, the parks sector is now at its last limit, with an average loss of 80 percent. A drop in turnover, underlines the association, which also endangers employment: "Up to 2019, our sector directly involved 25,000 employees, about 50,000 with related industries. The persisting uncertainty will lead to a very strong contraction in the number of employees. in FIS for too many months - stresses Ira -. Our workforce can't take it anymore: the best have found another job, but thousands of people are struggling to survive ".
And to worry the category there is also a problem of a technical and organizational type because the sector formally still falls into the category "Traveling Circus and Entertainment" which belongs to the ministry of culture and not to tourism, a detail that according to the association would the category was excluded from the refreshments and also from the Imu concessions granted to tourism companies, while the banks would have limited financing. In 2020, the association recalls, 20% of parks completely gave up on opening and 10,000 seasonal jobs were lost. The risk now "is to make the position of hundreds of Italian companies and thousands of workers even more precarious".