SALERNO – No quarantine for tourists from European countries, Great Britain and Israel. From 15 May the tests of normality begin also for tourism and, therefore, attempts are made to save the bathing season, as holidaymakers from beyond the Alps, to enter Italy, will simply have to respect the same rules in force for travel to non-yellow regions. It will therefore be enough to present a negative swab, prove that you have been vaccinated or have been cured from Covid in the last six months to avoid the 14-day quarantine, a real brake for the rebirth of the sector at the gates of summer. The new strategy was defined during an operational table organized by the Foreign Minister, Luigi Di Maio, and by that of Health, Roberto Speranza. The government’s goal is to reopen to all foreign countries that have achieved a high level of vaccination.
For the US, in particular, the aim is mid-June and in the meantime Covid free flights will be strengthened. Naturally satisfied is the provincial president of Federalberghi, Giuseppe Gagliano: «A tourist restart – highlights Gagliano – cannot ignore the presence of foreign tourists who, especially on the Amalfi Coast, best satisfy our business, with their behavior and spending methods. It is obvious that it still takes some time to return to a normal state, because tourism is free movement of people, so any limitation jeopardizes the possibility of working with serenity. Progress is being made, day by day we have improvements, with the number of vaccinated people increasing more and more ». The issue of US tourists still remains on the negotiating table. And, in this sense, Confcommercio is fighting to open borders to star-striped holidaymakers too, without quarantine.
«It is incomprehensible – remarked the president of Confturismo- Confcommercio, Luca Patanè – the reason for not removing the quarantine of the Americans, who were the first to vaccinate. Americans are a very important market, not letting them come now if they are vaccinated or immunized means never taking them back. I am not speaking only of tourism, but also of the whole business world, of congresses, of companies that have to go back and forth and instead everything is at a standstill. We have to start again, we are sinking ».
While waiting for the clearance also for the Americans, the Italian market begins to move. To date, almost 9 million (8 million and 750 thousand, to be precise) Italians have booked a summer vacation or are about to complete the booking. This was announced by Alberto Corti, Tourism Manager of Confcommercio, who specifies that “it is 35% of those 25 million who normally take a vacation in a tourist facility, from June to September in Italy or abroad”. Something is moving, therefore, even if “at the moment – adds Corti – the only thing that can be seen is a very strong increase in requests for information, combined with the consolidation of bookings by Italians”. Obviously and unfortunately, “65% is still out – he concludes – who are asking for information and maybe will not go on vacation or for economic reasons or for lack of confidence on the progress of the pandemic”.
Gaetano de Stefano