The coronavirus brings tourism to its knees, a sector that employs 2 million people in Italy and is worth about 13% of GDP. Conventions postponed, fairs cancelled, school trips cancelled, business or pleasure trips postponed to a later date. Tourists will return to Italy if and when the coronavirus emergency is contained. A reality that does not only concern the Regions in which the two outbreaks of Codogno and Vo' are present, but the entire national territory. In Rome, in Florence it is difficult to find visitors, with companies in the sector increasingly in difficulty. And it could be just the beginning.
According to calculations by Confturismo-Confcommercio, in the next quarter – the one that will start on March 1st and end on May 31st, 31.625 million fewer tourists will arrive in Italy. Heavy numbers that will lead to one loss of 7,4 billion euros.
"The situation is dramatic for the whole sector“, says the president of Confturismo-Confcommercio, Luca Patanè. "Unfortunately we are paying for the consequences of a much more lethal media communication than the virus".
Italians are seen as spreaders, their cities perceived as "dangerous" places for health. “The worst virus is hysteria,” underlines Patané who asks “strong measures to inject liquidity into the system giving a little oxygen to the companies in the sector, but it is also necessary to intervene at the government level to end the blocks on the entry of Italians into foreign countries and the blocks on the tourist flows of foreigners to Italy”.
In fact, the problem does not only concern incoming flows but also outgoing ones, with travelers from Italy subject to restrictions which in some cases result in the impossibility of entering the country of destination. On the site Safe traveling of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs it is possible to find all the updates on the measures taken by the Italian States towards Italian tourists.
The president of Confcommercio, Carlo Sangalli, is also worried, warning in an interview with Quotidiano.net: “The destination Italy risks disappearing completely from the radar of international tourism. The further wave of infections in the last week is producing damage that is difficult to recover in the short term. And the recent block on departures from the USA risks bringing the entire supply chain to its knees.
