Italy Introduces ‘COVID-Free Islands’ Vaccination Plan to Revive Summer Tourism Season

Italy’s authorities have introduced a new ‘Covid-free islands’ vaccination plan that aims to vaccinate all residents of holiday islands in order to help the country’s tourism sector recover from the damages provoked by the Coronavirus.

The idea follows Greece’s Tourism Ministry initiative based on their four-points plan to help the tourism sector amid the third wave of the Coronavirus, AtoZSerwisplus.com reports.

Italy’s government program would prioritize citizens in smaller islands to get vaccinated, such as those in Sicily and Campania regions, including Ischia, Procida and Capri, the Aeolian, Egadi, and Pelagie islands, and Puglia’s Tremiti islands, as well as Tuscany’s Elba.

At the same time, presidents of Sardinia and Sicily regions also urged the government to vaccinate their citizens as soon as possible in order to help their tourism sector recover this summer.

Emergency Commissioner-General Francesco Figliuolo previously announced that he had accepted the proposal to start the vaccination of all persons of Italy’s smaller islands from the end of this month. However, such an announcement has not been confirmed.

“We could do it. There is an open table,” Tourism Minister Massimo Garavaglia told reporters when asked if the government would approve the plan.

However, the idea has not been supported unanimously by authorities in Italy, as it is considered inconvenient.

Emilia-Romagna region president, Stefano Bonaccini, stressed that the country’s tourist destinations “cannot be prioritized at the expense of others.”

In this regard, the president of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Massimiliano Fedriga, pointed out that the vaccine rollout should be “equal” or else “social tensions could flare.”

Researcher Matteo Villa said the idea was “illogical as it would mean doses wasted on a young population, when they could be used on elderly people,” through a statement published on Twitter.

Italy’s government has not yet given a firm date for restarting holiday travel in summer, even though Tourism Minister Massimo Garavaglia suggested that this could happen on June 2.

The travel and tourism sector’s contribution to the country’s gross domestic product marked a gradual increase from 2009 to 2019, before the spread of the Coronavirus outbreak.

According to Statista’s figures, this industry brought a total of 169 billion euros to Italian GDP in 2019. Its contribution to the country’s gross domestic product reached the highest point in 2019 when travel and tourism brought 233 billion euros to Italian GDP. In the same year, the share of GDP generated by this industry reached 13 per cent.

In an effort to protect its citizens and prevent another wave of the virus, the Italian government earlier this month announced that it decided to prolong the quarantine requirements for all those who wish to enter the country from European Union states until the end of this month.

Last month the country’s authorities announced that all persons must test for the Coronavirus disease and follow the five-day quarantine rule upon their arrival in Italy.