Italy Reopens

After months of lockdown due to coronavirus pandemic, Italy will reopen its borders next month , the government announced.

Both foreign and regional boundaries open June 3 in an attempt to boost the tourism industry in Italy. The summer season is about to begin and tourism accounts for 13 per cent of GDP in the country.

The last guests of the hotels, adamant Argentinian honeymooners, checked out on March 11, two days after Italy began its national shutdown, including border closures.

Italy’s national federation of hotels said the sector had already shed 106,000 workers by April, with occupancy decreasing by 99 percent for foreigners and 96 percent for Italians. Another half-million jobs are at risk if the association says the summer season is not successful.

Italy is still aiming to promote domestic tourism, providing coupons to lower-income families to invest until the end of the year in restaurants, campgrounds and other establishments.

The dramatic reform of policies follows months of tight lockdowns. Italy has spent a few weeks at the pandemic as Europe’s epicenter.

Neighboring countries aren’t so keen to see Italy open its borders so willingly.
Germany, whose border is roughly a 4-hour drive from Venice via Austria, instructs people not to fly abroad for tourism until at least 15 June. Officials in neighboring France have made it clear that they are seeking a coordinated European border opening effort, indicating that Italy is jumping the gun.

To highlight the importance of arrivals from neighboring countries, estimates from Eurostat indicate that French overnight stays in Italy last year reached 14 million, while those from Germany came in at 13.6 million, edging Italians themselves at 13.5 million. Spaniards were the top Italian tourists, with a stay of 14.6 million.
It has succeeded in flattening the curve and curbing the number of new diseases and deaths. Italy added 789 confirmed cases of coronavirus on Saturday which took the number to 223,885. There were 242 additional deaths, which took the toll to 31,610.