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‘We are gifting our tourists abroad’: Italian hoteliers angry at rules allowing residents to holiday outside Italy

The head of Italy's hotel industry body expressed outrage on Monday at government coronavirus rules that allow Italians to take holidays abroad but ban domestic travel.

Published: 29 March 2021 17:45 CEST

'We are gifting our tourists abroad': Italian hoteliers angry at rules allowing residents to holiday outside Italy

A passenger at Rome's Fiumicino airport. Photo: Filippo Monteforte/AFP

“I can’t leave my municipality , but I can fly off to the Canary Islands — it’s absurd,” Bernabo Bocca, head of the federation of Italian hoteliers, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

“Hoteliers feel they are being mocked. The rules must be respected, but they should be the same for everyone… otherwise they will kill Italian tourism.”

Much of Italy has been under tough restrictions in recent weeks due to a third wave of coronavirus infections, meaning residents must stay in their local area. The whole country will go into lockdown over the three-day Easter weekend starting Saturday, April 3rd.

EXPLAINED: What are Italy’s rules for travel over Easter?

Bocca said that “85 percent of hotels in Italy are forced to stay closed” due to restrictions that keep residents from leaving their own town or region. But travelling to the airport for a foreign holiday is allowed, the Interior Ministry recently confirmed.

“We suggested coronavirus tests in hotels when people arrive and when they leave, but it was refused,” Bocca said, adding: “We are gifting our tourists abroad.”

Before the pandemic, Italy was the world’s fifth-most visited destination. But visitor numbers collapsed by more than 60 percent last year, dealing a heavy blow to the economy.

Residents of Italy who go abroad for holidays, which is currently only permitted in other EU countries, have to observe Italian health precautions on their return, including testing negative for coronavirus no more than 48 hours before they arrive.

The Italian Foreign Ministry recommends avoiding overseas travel unless absolutely necessary, including within the EU.

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Member comments

Anonymous - 29 March 2021 at 18:08 CEST

When do they aim to allow domestic travel between muncipalities?

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German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of €420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of €2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some €200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of €2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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