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The Italian Frecce Tricolori (Tricolor Arrows) aerobatics team fly over Rome for Republic Day in Italy yesterday Xinhua News Agency/PA Images

Italy hopes to win back visitors as it re-opens to European tourists

The tourism sector contributes around 13% to Italy’s GDP.

ITALY RE-OPENS TO travellers from Europe today, three months after the country went into coronavirus lockdown, with all hopes pinned on reviving the key tourism industry as the summer season begins.

Gondolas are ready to punt along Venice’s canals, lovers will be able to act out Romeo and Juliet on Verona’s famed balcony, and gladiator fans can pose for selfies at Rome’s Colosseum.

But there were fears many foreign tourists would be put off coming to a country still shaking off a vicious pandemic.

“Come to Calabria. There’s only one risk: that you’ll get fat,” the southern region’s governor Jole Santelli said on Sunday as the race began to lure big spenders — or any spenders — back to Italy’s sandy shores.

Italy was the first European country to be hit hard by the coronavirus and has officially reported more than 33,000 deaths.

It imposed an economically crippling lockdown in early March and has since seen its contagion numbers drop off dramatically.

With the country facing its deepest recession since World War II, it needs foreigners to return, and quickly.

But it is still reporting dozens of new cases a day, particularly in the northern Lombardy region, and experts warn the government may be being hasty in permitting travel between regions and abroad.

‘Like a leper’

International flights were only expected to resume in three main cities: Milan, Rome and Naples.

And there were concerns that those who usually come in by car, train or ferry from neighbouring countries would go elsewhere on their holidays.

Switzerland has warned its citizens that if they go to Italy they will be subject to “health measures” on their return. The country will open its borders with Germany, France and Austria on 15 June, but not with Italy.

Austria is lifting restrictions in mid-June with Germany, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary – but again, not Italy, described last week by Vienna’s health minister as “still a hotspot”.

Other countries, such as Belgium and Britain, are still advising against, or forbidding, all non-essential travel abroad.

In Ireland, the Department of Foreign Affairs is continuing to advise against all non-essential travel to Italy

In response to perceived anti-Italian sentiment, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio has warned countries not to treat Italy “like a leper”.

He said on Saturday he would be travelling to Germany, Slovenia and Greece to persuade them Italy is safe for foreign tourists.

Arrivals in Italy from Europe will not be required to self-isolate unless they have recently travelled from another continent.

Too expensive

Italy’s lockdown has had a particularly devastating effect on the tourism sector, which amounts to some 13% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

Historic sites were shut, restaurants closed, and hotels were used to care for coronavirus sick.

Restaurants, cafes and beach establishments have slowly reopened over the past two weeks – although the government has said it reserves the right to impose localised lockdowns if it sees contagion numbers rise.

But only 40 of Rome’s 1,200 hotels have reopened, the Corriere della Sera newspaper said Monday, and just a dozen in Milan. It costs too much to open them if they will just stand empty.

“My hoteliers all want to reopen, but as long as the borders remain closed, it’s not possible,” Marco Michielli, deputy head of hoteliers’ association Federalberghi, said Saturday.

Italy’s national tourism agency (ENIT) said some 40 percent of Italians traditionally travel abroad for their holidays, but could be forced this year to vacation at home, helping local businesses.

That may be little comfort to those running the country’s costly historic sites, because most of the tens of thousands of visitors that usually flock daily to the Tower of Pisa, Pantheon or Pompeii come from abroad.

© – AFP 2020

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    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sharon Moore
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    Jul 26th 2013, 7:01 AM

    What a dreadful thing for any family to go through.

    187
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    Mute big shmoke
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    Jul 26th 2013, 7:28 AM

    The part of this tragic tale that’s always stuck with me is that she made it to the garden gate. And then just vanished into thin air. Maybe one day the Gardaí will have a breakthrough & the mystery will be solved.

    180
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    Mute Raymond Power
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    Jul 26th 2013, 7:48 AM

    Very true the garden gate AND the middle of the afternoon.

    125
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    Mute Arthur Pewty
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    Jul 26th 2013, 8:23 AM

    “last seen” always sends shivers down my spine. i always wish there was something i can do. my sympathies to the family and families of al missing people in Ireland.

    87
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    Mute Kate Crotty Brett
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    Jul 26th 2013, 8:24 AM

    Deidre Jacob is this ladys name not Jacob. Hopefully her family will have closure. My heart goes out to them.

    56
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    Mute Lucy
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    Jul 26th 2013, 8:33 AM

    I posted the same thing! It drives me mad! That kind of reporting is fine for some articles but not for this kind of an article. I think its disrespectful to the girl.

    54
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    Mute Lucy
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    Jul 26th 2013, 8:26 AM

    I hate the way journalists refer to the person by their surname in articles like these. Whats wrong with just calling her Deirdre?

    Anyway thats a bit off track.

    I wonder will any of those girls ever be found. The families deserve closure

    Didn’t Deirdre live in a rural area though so the fact that it was daylight doesn’t make a difference if there wasn’t anyone nearby. Was she the one that walked by a building site on the way home?

    49
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    Mute Raymond Power
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    Jul 26th 2013, 9:00 AM

    Just looked through the missing person site,it beggars belief.many reasons for people to dissapear but some of the women’s dissapearence were so sinister and sudden…ie a 7 mth pregnant lady..woman preparing for a eagerly awaited party.etc etc.noticed a lot in the late 90′s also.if this was the states maybe the idea of something even more terrible might be considered but presumeably the gardai never found any connection between cases.

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    Mute dearg doom
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    Jul 26th 2013, 9:28 AM

    From what I remember they INSISTED there was no connection between cases and stated that there was no serial killer in Ireland.

    21
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    Mute Tracey C
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    Jul 26th 2013, 11:19 AM

    I live in Newbridge and remember when Deirdre went missing back then. I was only 12 and was constantly scared that someone was going to take me away. The area where she lives is a little quieter than the rest of the town but it’s only a few minutes away from a big housing estate and a secondary school. Very sad. Hope there is some closure for the family soon, god love them.

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    Mute Aimie Walsh 
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    Jul 26th 2013, 11:05 AM

    There are too many cases of people just vanishing into thin air. This is truly a chilling fact, years on and still nothing. Watched the rte documentary the other night on another disappearance…..gives me the horrors to think how someone somewhere knows and could be still out there to this day, and how they got away with it for so long.

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    Mute John Miller
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    Jul 26th 2013, 2:01 PM

    I think most of us have a good idea who is responsible for this young lady’s disappearance.

    13
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    Mute Larry T Bird
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    Jul 26th 2013, 1:15 PM

    Weird !
    My comment was deleted even though I deliberately included the word ‘allegedly’
    Jeez your legal advisor is very windy !

    8
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    Mute Larry T Bird
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    Jul 26th 2013, 5:53 PM

    Yes Annette mine was too.

    And I was sitting in a pub in Baggot Street in Dublin when I wrote it. Let me see if I can remember the name of the pub…. Ehhh…. Emmm….

    Relax legalboy I won’t say it …..

    7
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    Mute Ben Reilly
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    Jul 26th 2013, 7:55 PM

    Oddly enough the disappearances stopped after a certain individual was arrested for a separate offence !

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    Mute Bronagh Butler
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    Jul 26th 2013, 6:11 PM

    I remember this especially since she was the same age as me. So sad that time must have just stood still for her family. What an awful thing to deal with.

    5
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