The havoc wreaked by the pandemic on Italy’s tourism is far from over

Venice March 28, 2021: The globe’s jet setters have deserted their usual haunts in Venice. Towns on the Liguarian coast and Lake Como remain devoid of tourists as the tourism industry suffers heavy losses from the pandemic.

Tourist numbers have dropped by more than 60% in 2020 corresponding to a 26 Billion Euro loss and potential job losses of over 400,000.

A local entrepreneur from Varenna, Marina Denti, laments the absence of the famous actor George Clooney, who she says has failed to visit his villa in Laglio along the shores of Lake Como.

Italy is now looking to boost domestic tourism and the initiatives include a high-speed rail links between Rome and Milan and the local governments of Florence and Venice, the Italian capitals of Art and History, have approached the government for recovery grants.

Anna Bigai, a local tour guide likened Venice to Pompeii, with its”dead streets” devoid of tourists. The outlook continues to look bleak at least until 2023 warned the Director of National Tourism, Giorgio Palmucci. The extent of the devastation caused by the pandemic is reflected in the businesses patronized by Billionaires that now stand empty, the Rolex and Christian Dior, a mere echo of the past.

The slender ray of hope that appeared in the form of some rare foreign tourists craving solitude on vacation in Gothic Duomo from Europe, at the beginning of this year was again extinguished when Italy had to go into lock downs amid a fresh surge in infections.

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