Italy gears up for travel ban lift as COVID-19 hospitalizations dip

TOURISM SECTOR LOOKS FORWARD TO JUNE 3

In a statement on Saturday, the National Confederation of Farmers (Coldiretti) said that 7 million Italians are planning a vacation trip next month, breathing some much-needed oxygen into the country’s stalled tourist industry.

“The freedom to cross-regional borders beginning on June 3 will have a significant economic and employment impact on tourism,” Coldiretti wrote.

Italy’s tourist season normally begins in March, but this year the sector lost 81 million visitors between March and May due to the lockdown.

Tourist spending ground to a halt, causing estimated losses of almost 20 billion euros (22.21 billion U.S. dollars) for hotels, restaurants, transportation firms, and retailers over the past three months, according to Coldiretti estimates.

The hardest-hit sector has been food and wine, which is the “main spending item for foreign and Italian tourists alike,” Coldiretti said.

“Food has become the true added value of Made-in-Italy holidays,” Coldiretti continued.

Italy is the world leader in terms of gastronomic tourism thanks to its many prized, unique wines and gourmet delicacies, but also because it has “the greenest agriculture in Europe” with over 60,000 organic farms, Coldiretti said.

Source: Xinhua