A logical choice that triggers the disappointment for yet another postponement. This is the thought that unites all the owners of theme parks in Italy, in particular the wildlife ones. For them to wait until July 1st to reopen will be too late because in this way they will lose “most of the high season and more than half of the proceeds – explains Giuseppe Ira, president of the association of Italian permanent parks (PPI) -. Easter has already been lost and so will be missing all the upcoming holidays which normally bring tens of thousands of people to the theme parks ». For the 230 parks scattered along the Peninsula, the longed-for reopening expected by the end of April fades. Instead, another 70 days of forced detention after the blocking of the 2020 season in October. In fact, Covid has led to the closure of the structures with a loss of over 80% of turnover.
To make everything even more inexplicable, the government’s reopening calendar, which sets the “premiere” for cinemas, theaters and open-air shows on April 26. A very similar condition in which the day takes place in the theme parks. «The unequal treatment compared to other categories – explains Giuseppe Ira, president of the Italian Permanent Parks Association, member of Confindustria and of the Leolandia theme park, in the Bergamo area – can be configured into real unfair competition, which generates anger and resentment in the members. We are treated worse than arcades and other indoor activities, including restaurants, where you stay for hours without a mask. The activities of our parks are always carried out outdoors, with large spaces available and under the control of personnel in charge, unlike what can happen on the street or in the children’s play areas of public parks, which are already open, where there is no type of spacing monitoring and there are no devices for hand sanitization. We limit the entrances to avoid any risk of crowding and we have set up strict security protocols that have already amply demonstrated their effectiveness last year. In the US, the parks were opened in February, as soon as the vaccination campaign started, and in Great Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson decided to immediately reopen the open-air pubs and all the amusement parks ».
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The date of 1 July decided by the Government leads to a total unequal treatment compared to other activities that take place outdoors. Indirectly, a confirmation comes from Francesco Vaia, health director of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute in Rome who on Facebook said that “the parks and public areas are made accessible and adequate to accommodate outdoor gyms, cinemas, theaters, restaurants, bars, points for reading and listening to music, concerts – underlining that -. there is scientific evidence that encourages us in this direction. Always paying attention to safeguard measures, always in safety, but always further ahead, always with greater spaces for socializing ».
Starting from this assumption, the date of July 1st sounds even more incomprehensible, equating the fairs and spas, which are notoriously health facilities remained open even during the lockdown, to outdoor theme parks. For this the association of Italian Permanent Parks (PPI) turned to Prime Minister Mario Draghi, Minister for Regional Affairs and Autonomies Maria Stella Gelmini, Minister of Tourism Massimo Garavaglia, Minister of Culture Dario Franceschini to report the bewilderment and the profound disappointment caused by the openings roadmap.
A Pirandello situation if you consider that last year the theme parks reopened at the end of May and, this year, the survival of about 50 thousand employees depends on the reopening, of which 25 thousand are employed directly and the remaining linked to related industries. Not to mention the negative effects for hotels, B & Bs, agritourisms, bars and restaurants that have arisen in the vicinity of the structures. Thousands of other micro-businesses whose survival is closely linked to the safe reopening of parks.