TAKING STOCK

I walked the streets of my town this morning to see how we are getting back to our feet. “Slowly” is the key word.

I got an espresso to go from a bar. It is one of my favorite places in summer because they enjoy an outdoors area next to a little creek. One of those secluded corners that Italy is so lucky to have. They are hoping to be able to open that outdoors area soon. They desperately need it, and luckily their settings will allow social distancing.

Unfortunately, structures that will reopen, in order to guarantee social distancing, will necessarily work at 30-35% of their usual capacity.

This summer, Italy will not be able to rely on international tourism, which contributes 51% of the bookings in hotels and accommodation facilities.

Italy usually, trusts in the internal market, while now we are worried about the spending capacity of fellow Italians.

TOURISM

It is difficult now to be able to make predictions, we can still assume that in the reboot phase, forms of travel mainly concentrated in Italy and of short-medium range will be preferred.

But tourism must be saved and the message we all need is that you can go on holiday despite the virus, you just need to be equipped and follow the instructions that will soon be given by the competent authorities. 

Off the beaten path destination should be favored, and luckily Italy can offer plenty of small, secluded, delightfull destinations as well, yet places rich in art and history.