Coronavirus outbreaks confirmed in Italy 3:44
Rome (CNN) -
For a very short time, the Italian summer offered a ray of hope.
After emerging from what was, in early 2020, one of the toughest coronavirus lockdowns in the world, Italy managed to dust itself off in time to welcome visitors.
But as the sun begins to cool, so do hopes for a full recovery for Italy's decimated 2020 tourist season. Winter is coming, and with it what is expected to be a full-blown economic catastrophe.
The Italian government, like many around the world, has been handing out cash to support many struggling businesses and individuals, but with many global travel restrictions still in place, the loss of revenue from the country's faltering travel industry leaves a huge financial hole that must now be filled.
"Tourists are what we need to keep going," says Cassandra Santoro, director and founder of the travel planning service, Travel Italian Style.
"Our guides, drivers and workers from Piedmont to Sicily who thought they would be out of work for a season, are now exploring other jobs and sources of income."
Anyone visiting Italy in August could have been forgiven for thinking that almost everything was back to normal except for face masks and social distancing.
Culturally set in stone as a month-long vacation for Italians, it saw many locals enjoying a hard-earned break to the best of their ability.
But even with 60% of Italians managing a getaway, almost all in Italy, and the influx of some visitors from northern Europe, the prognosis is dire.
"The projected loss for 2020 of foreign visitors to Italy is 24.6 billion euros and even spending by domestic travelers has been reduced by 43.6 billion euros," says Giorgio Palmucci, president of Italy's national tourism office, ENIT.
Even with hopes of growth and recovery within two years, the damage, he adds, is likely to be widespread.
"All Italian cities are expected to be significantly affected, particularly those that depend the most on international visitors such as Venice, Florence and Rome."
Many foreign tourists left Italy this year.
VINCENZO PINTO / AFP via Getty Images
An industry on the edge
Added to the problems is an increase in COVID-19 cases that are attributed to the movement of young Italians, both across borders to countries such as Croatia, Greece and Malta, as well as to hot spots of summer nightlife at home.
Daily increases are lower than in France and Spain, but Italians are nervous about the approaching winter.
Fears of a second wave appear to have thwarted previous projections of a resurgence in tourism in September and October, with Italians and foreign visitors canceling plans and waiting.
Business owners now feel that what the government was saying about the Italian summer as an internal boost to tourism was just rhetoric.
The unbridled optimism, coupled with the images of crowded Italian beaches for the popular
Ferragosto
party
on August 15, were, they say, just a smokescreen for an industry on the brink of collapse.
The statistics certainly paint an uglier picture.
The Italian Business Confederation has reported that 70% of hotels in cities like Rome and Florence and 20% in coastal areas did not even reopen after closing.
Italy's National Institute of Statistics projects that 60% of companies in the industry fear an imminent collapse.
The current travel ban that prevents Americans, one of Italy's largest sources of tourism, from entering, is also having a particularly brutal impact.
Italy saw a renaissance in domestic tourism this year, but not enough to offset the lack of foreign tourists.
Fabrizio Villa / Getty Images
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Strenght and courage
Cassandra Santoro of Travel Italian Style says that at least 85% of her clients are American.
In September, her company recorded 100% of holiday cancellations for 2020. He says it is the first year that she has not made any profit from planning holidays in Italy.
«In December 2019, I had over 100 clients booked to travel between March and September 2020. I have refunded approximately 50% of the guests in full, with 50% having postponed it until 2021, some even until 2023 and 2024 ».
Like so many, he has had to reinvent his business.
Along with the locals on the Amalfi Coast, where he currently resides, Santoro launched a #LifeBeyondTourism #AmalfiCoastLocals digital story series that showcases businesses that generally rely solely on tourism.
He says that during interviews, "we have heard more than once 'If the borders remain closed for the rest of 2020, we will not have money to buy food for our family in January.'
However, Italians remain optimistic and, deep down, know that this will not last forever.
Forza
y
coraggio
(strength and courage) is what Italy knows best.
The gastronomic tour company Casa Mia usually schedules bespoke wine and gastronomic activities throughout Italy nonstop from March to October.
Not this year.
Cancellations from American clients started arriving in February, an early sign of the catastrophic summer season.
"We lost 100% of our 2020 bookings in a matter of days," says co-owner Eleonora Baldwin.
"During the summer there has been a moderate influx of European travelers, but a recent increase in cases could trigger another lockdown, so the next few months are a big question mark."
Hotels face the same uncertainty.
The director of operations of the luxury chain Rocco Forte Hotels, Maurizio Saccani, says that Rome was deserted during July and August and that the occupancy of the famous Hotel de Russie was around 15%, compared to 87% for the same period of the year past.
The inauguration in June of its new Hotel Villa Igiea in Palermo (a multi-million euro restoration project) has been moved to May 2021.
Too little too late
Giorgia Tozzi, general manager of the five-star Hotel Vilon in Rome, says 2020 was going to be the property's third and most promising year of activity.
With record bookings for April onwards, they were gearing up for their best summer yet.
In contrast, in mid-February cancellations began to arrive, forcing the hotel to close.
Things slowly improved after they ambitiously reopened on June 3, initially with Italian business travelers and then, from mid-June through September, travelers from France, Spain, and northern Europe.
“This helped us achieve an occupancy of around 37%, compared to more than 80% during the same period last year;
Disappointing, but given the current weather, a miracle.
The next few months are uncertain, but we expect to see some improvement from spring 2021. ″
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Tozzi remains positive.
«Rome, as they say, is the Eternal City and will survive.
Perhaps its strength and beauty will give us the strength to start over and find a new normal in tourism.
But while there is much talk of billions of national stimuli and initiatives from the European Union, many entrepreneurs say it is too little, too late.
Natalino Gisonna, the owner of Corso 281 Luxury Suites in Rome, has called for greater support from the Italian government.
"Covid-19 has been an economic disaster for our hotel," he says.
“Between June and September, we received only six guests, mainly from France and the UK.
During the same period last year, we had a 95% occupancy.
I don't think there will be any improvement until spring 2021 and that's only if international borders are reopened.
Gisonna says that government measures to support the tourism sector to date, including the so-called "vacation voucher," have been ineffective because they have not provided the funds that businesses desperately need.
“Of the 2,400 million euros allocated to the economic stimulus, to date only 200 million have been spent and only 8% have reached hotels and beach clubs.
Unallocated resources must go directly to companies in need, in the form of tax breaks and grants or many will not survive. '
It is not only the hotels in the city that suffer.
On islands like Ischia and Capri, mass tourism is seasonal and businesses here work hard to ensure that summer earnings keep them year-round.
Together with her husband Gianluca D'esposito, Holly Star owns Ristorante Michel'angelo and a popular cooking school on Capri, an island that typically welcomes more than two million travelers a year.
"To say that this summer has been a challenge is an understatement, especially for small family businesses like ours," he says.
With a holiday season reduced in seven months to just two and a half and 80% of its international clientele absent, Star has had to reconsider its operation.
"Our cooking school remains closed and we have transformed our business to offer international shipments of our line of food products and we can only hope that the current situation improves for the launch of our new landscaping company next year."
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sustainable tourism
Michael Sambaldi, Managing Director of Pellicano Hotels, says that while summer revenue on the island of Ischia in the Gulf of Naples fell by as much as 50%, his group's Mezzatorre Hotel and Spa was able to capitalize on the Italian tourism market , with the locals increasingly appreciating the beauty within their homeland.
He believes that the situation has forced companies to be smarter in terms of financial resources and even marketing, which is why the hotel is participating in a new global campaign, Ischia is More.
Created by a consortium of passionate local entrepreneurs, its goal is to position the island as a dynamic year-round destination initially showcasing its history, culture, and beauty through a dedicated Instagram channel.
Eventually, it will encompass a restart of the spa sector and sustainable tourism projects.
Luxury Regina Isabella is another founding member of the Ischia initiative.
Director Giancarlo Carriero says that while the island's 2020 season was predominantly for Italians, he is hopeful that international tourism will rebound by 2022. He says that the pandemic has changed people and that meaningful and wellness travel they will become the priority for many.
Ischia, with its healing hot springs and stunning natural landscapes, can provide that and more.
And while the current outlook does not bode well, these Ischia businesses, along with many others across the country, are determined to keep fighting.
Perhaps his example is the beacon that Italy needs for what will be a long and painful road.
Maria Pasquale is an Italian-Australian food and travel writer based in Rome. Author of I Heart Rome and founder of the award-winning blog HeartRome, her adventures can be followed on Instagram @heartrome.
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