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TOURISM

Italian hotels protest new Covid green pass requirement

A new requirement for all hotel guests in Italy to show a health certificate will be a further blow to tourism this winter, industry associations said.

A hotel owners shows a list of safety rules and precautions for customers against the spread of Covid-19.
A hotel owners shows a list of Covid-19 safety rules and precautions for customers. Photo: Vincenzo PINTO/AFP

The Italian government on Wednesday announced a raft of extensions to the current Covid-19 restrictions including a new requirement for all hotel guests to show a health certificate, known as a ‘green pass’ in Italy.

Under current rules in Italy, health passes must be shown to enter many leisure and cultural venues as well as to access workplaces and some forms of public transport. But so far, hotels have remained exempt from the requirement.

READ ALSO: Italy to impose ‘super green pass’ Covid restrictions on unvaccinated

This is set to change as of December 6th, as all hotels will be required to check that guests have a valid certificate proving they are vaccinated, have recently recovered from Covid-19 or have tested negative.

Italian hoteliers association Federalberghi stated in a press release on Wednesday that new requirements risk “preventing millions of foreign tourists from reaching our country,” especially those from countries administering vaccines not recognised by the European Medicines Agency.

The association’s statement read: “Competing countries will be given an advantage, waiting with open arms for the millions of foreign tourists (Asian, Russian, Brazilian, etc.) that Italy is preparing to reject.”

The government confirmed that it would not place ‘super green pass’ requirements on hotels, which would limit access only to those who are vaccinated or recovered.

Instead, the current green pass will be required, meaning that hotels can also accept passes generated based on a negative test result.

READ ALSO: Q&A: How will Italy’s new Covid ‘super green pass’ work?

However, Federalberghi president Bernabò Bocca told reporters that hotel operators were still facing “unequal treatment”. 

“Hotels, which already suffer from strong competition from other forms of accommodation, are required to strictly comply with the new provisions but this is not the case for short-term rentals where compliance with the rules is not guaranteed.”

Employees stand behind screens at the reception desk of Rome’s Sheraton Parco de Medici hotel. Photo: Andreas SOLARO/AFP

Maria Carmela Colaiacovo, president of the Confindustria Association of Hotels, told newspaper La Republica that the rules would “risk making it impossible for families who choose to stay in a hotel to organise a holiday.”

She noted that some visitors would be coming from countries where under-16s are not yet being vaccinated, while Italy requires a green pass for all over 12s.

“The holidays are upon us and it is essential that we have clear indications on this immediately, taking into account the complexities that concern these cases.”

EXPLAINED: How will Italy’s Covid restrictions change in December? 

A statement from business association Confesercenti read: “The hope is that [the green pass] will at least serve to avoid restrictions and the closure of economic activity during the Christmas period; this would be the final blow for tens of thousands of businesses which have not yet recovered from the limitations imposed last year.”

Italy’s new coronavirus decree, unanimously approved by the Council of Ministers on Wednesday, tightens a range of restrictions as the government pushes to increase vaccine uptake and flatten Italy’s contagion curve as infection rates rise across Europe.

Member comments

  1. I think you might have already addressed the question. How can a non European person who has a home in Italy and is fully vaccinated and planning on visiting Italy in December get a green pass?

    Will my international vaccine certification generated in Australia be sufficient to get me into the country?

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HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

READ ALSO:

Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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