Tourism ready for summer but "no more quarantines"

ROME - Tourism is preparing for the summer restart but there are still some knots to dissolve (from the vaccination pass to the quarantine, from the curfew to transport) and above all Italy must guard against the fierce competition of Spain and Greece.

Furthermore, while the hotels in the seaside resorts are starting to see a flood of bookings, the crisis of those in the cities of art is still open and painful.

    The president of Federalberghi Bernabò Bocca explains this to ANSA: "It's okay and it's better than before that Italians can move from one region to another. Having most of the regions in yellow and being able to go from one to the other there allows you to imagine a restart. At least for domestic tourism, but this is not the case at all for foreign tourism. Unfortunately we continue to have those 5 days of quarantine on European tourists and those 15 on Americans that obviously for some destinations, such as the cities of art, puts you completely on your knees ".

    The hotels of the cities of art are closed with forecasts of openings in May, says the president of the hoteliers, but with zero reservations, we start at least in September. "Florence and Rome - he underlines - live almost exclusively on international tourism and this is not possible. I cannot understand how Greece from May 14 will allow foreigners in possession of vaccines or negative swabs to enter and for this reason Italy does not he has yet to give a date. A Frenchman certainly does not come to Rome, if he knows he has to do 5 days of quarantine ... ".

    For Bocca we should take an example from foreigners and especially from Italy's direct competitors: "As Greece and Spain defend the tourism sector which is very important for the GDP, we should do the same thing. Germany does not care because they do not live on tourism. their main asset is the manufacturing sector and in fact they defended it and never closed it. We, on the other hand - adds Bocca - are sacrificing our best economic sector to our two competitors who are Greece and Spain. tennis in Barcelona where the stadium was full, in Madrid everything is open. And we are still discussing indoor or outdoor restaurants. "

    "Hotels in any case - according to Federalberghi - are quiet and safe with studied protocols that have allowed us to spend 2020 in peace. The problems are not in the hotels, they are in public transport".

    Federbalneari, too, which records a boom in bookings in seaside hotels, asks Minister Massimo Garavaglia to speed up the process for the green pass vaccination which will allow travel between European Union countries and which can save the summer of foreigners on vacation in Italy, a sector worth 11.2 billion for the national tourism system. "The Green pass - says President Mauro Maurelli - will allow us to be competitive at European level, especially towards these countries that are already moving in this direction: first and foremost Greece, the real promoter of the initiative, but also such as Spain, Croatia, Austria, Poland, Denmark, Estonia and Finland ".

    The president of Confturismo Confcommercio Luca Patanè intervened on the curfew a few days ago: "People don't go on vacation to make a curfew. But that's enough! Last year in May we were also indoors in restaurants. We have to remind ourselves of these things. for reopening, thus making companies die more and more slowly, but inexorably ". While Vittorio Messina, president of Assoturismo Confesercenti, spoke about how much businesses must be supported after the annus horribilis just passed: "We need to act immediately, in a strong way: immediate credit is needed, a moratorium on existing mortgages and loans and the block, at least for a year, of the bankruptcy petitions ". (HANDLE).