GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th May, 2020) ENOA, Italy, May 9 (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko - Domestic tourism in Italy will be the main focus of the industry sector in 2020 but will, in any case, be insufficient to compensate for the gross damage that the sector has suffered because of the coronavirus pandemic, Marina Lalli, vice-president of Federturismo Confindustria, the Italian travel and tourism federation, told Sputnik.
Tourism is one of the main industries in Italy and, according to the Statista Research Department, represented 13 percent of the country's GDP in 2019.
"We will focus anyways on the Italian customers to come back, with the permitted mobility and in accordance with the rules in force, to be 'tourists at home,' and we will rely only on a small domestic demand in July and August," Lalli said.
She added, though, that no measure can boost domestic tourism enough to cover the damages done to the industry by COVID-19.
"Even in the best-case scenario, which envisages the extension of the season, promotional offers and highest possible flexibility, the numbers [of tourists] will not be sufficient to compensate for the sharp drop in bookings that stands between 70 and 90%," she continued.
Since the beginning of this week, Italy has entered a so-called Phase Two of coronavirus emergency, which means a gradual reopening and lifting of the lockdown limitations. Parks and villas have been reopened for visitors, but beaches still remain inaccessible.
"The virus, individual fears, limitations that we still have to observe - all this does not encourage us to pack suitcases. In the summer months we will not be able to count on the arrivals of international tourists, even though the Ministry is now working on the bilateral protocols with Germany, Switzerland, and Austria," Lalli said.
In this period, so-called slow tourism is likely to gain popularity among domestic tourists, she noted. It advocates fewer movements while traveling and more immersion in the local culture.
"It will be tourism that will favor lesser-known Italy. ... Smaller but equally beautiful destinations rich in history, nature and culture will be preferred. It will be an opportunity to enhance the type of tourism that knows how to appreciate not only big cities but also the rich heritage of the entire national territory made up of small villages and natural parks," Lalli said.
The IMF projected the Italian GDP to fall by nine percent in 2020 amid the coronavirus emergency.
The EU tourism industry is estimated to lose around one billion Euros ($1.09 billion) every month as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, European Commissioner for Internal Markets Thierry Breton announced in mid-March, soon after the first lockdowns were imposed in Europe.
