The world has been fighting the same enemy. Reality is, there is not such a thing as escaping the virus, but in Italy we’ve finally reached a moment when it’s important to start looking forward and try to reach some semblance of normality again, without forgetting, of course, that we’re still very much at war against an insidious, invisible and deadly evil.
Life needs to go on: with surgical masks, controlled access to stores and social distancing, but it needs to go on. And so, Italy has begun adapting its existence and its routines to an entirely new reality, one that appears all the more foreign to a country were socializing, conviviality and very physical, very factual displays of affection are as natural as breathing.
It’s not only people who need to discover new ways to thrive while being forced to cohabit with the virus, but businesses, too. All sectors of our economy have been hit harshly, but tourism remains the most notorious victim of Covid-19 in Italy: profits dropped by 95% in March and it is believed a total of 20 billion euro (almost 22 billion USD) will be lost by the end of 2020. This is not at all surprising, as the first half of the year saw virtually no traveling taking place and even if restrictions should soon — or so we all hope — allow us to move a bit more freely, 2020 will remains an annus terribilis for Italian tourism, a sector that Il Sole 24 Ore, just last January, had defined “ Italy’s own oil.”
(Photo: Dreamstime)
It’s not all negative, though. Or, let’s put it this way: we should try not to see all negatively. If one thing remained clear through the emergency is that people all over the world love Italy, they truly do, and that many can’t wait to come back. Some may have family ties, others just incredible memories, others still would simply love to see it for the first time: whichever way you put it, Italy remains in the heart and dreams of the world.
This is great news for our tourism, of course, but fear is great and relying only on Italophiles’ desire to come back may not be enough to get the industry going again.
This is why Sicily’s Regional Government has decided to subsidize holidays to all those who’ll choose the island as their destination. The news, The Guardian reported last week, came a few days before the Government announced it hopes to open the country’s borders to tourists for the summer.
(Photo: Dreamstime)
Regione Sicilia decided to invest a total of 75 million euro (about 82 million USD) to boost its tourist sector, after the immense losses it experienced in the first quarter of 2020. It was Manlio Messina, Sicily’s tourism director, to disclose details about the plan — which has still to come officially into being — on national television; he declared that accommodation costs should be in part reduced by offering one free night for a three-day trip (your typical weekend getaway) and two free nights if you decide to stay six days. Vouchers and discounts for cultural and heritage visits or activities are also part of the plan. Messina declared the region is also taking into consideration the possibility to pay for up to half the cost of flights, although this hasn’t been confirmed, yet.
Sicily remains on of the least affected region by the Covid-19 epidemic, with only 2.127 active cases as of the 8th of May, a result obtained also thanks to the timely closure of regional borders imposed by Governor Musumeci shortly after the beginning of the epidemic.
Regardless to what the plan will effectively imply, Regione Sicilia needs to wait, just like the rest of the country, and understand to which extent restrictions will affect people’s freedom to travel during the summer; recently, Italy’s Minister for Tourism and Culture, Dario Franceschini, weighed in on possibilities in an interview with Rome’s Il Messaggero newspaper: “I’ve never said nor thought of closing Italian borders to tourists for 2020 — he declared when commenting on some fake news that did the rounds in Europe two weeks ago — on the contrary, I’ve been working with the rest of the EU’s ministers for tourism to create a set of homogeneous security regulations to allow freedom of movement for all EU citizens.” Still no mention of non-EU visitors, but there is hope.
(Photo: Dreamstime)
A positive outlook, a greatly needed attempt to return to normality soon, for the economy of course, but also for people’s own psychological well being. It is essential, though, to remain realistic and, of course, careful, as pointed out by Franceschini himself, and reported again by The Guardian: “You have to adopt the right balance between safeguarding health and restarting economic and social life. It must be done with the utmost care. We’re moving one step at a time.”
One step at a time. This is the only way we can move forward right now, but knowing that today these steps can be taken seems already like a little victory.
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