A view taken on July 2, 2020 shows tourist and residents sunbathing and swimming at a beach in ... [+] Amalfi on the Amalfi coast in southern Italy. - With its white and multicoloured houses perched on the mountainside about the crystalline waters of the Mediterranean, Italy's Amalfi coast is suffering from this year's lack of US tourists. (Photo by Filippo MONTEFORTE / AFP) (Photo by FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/AFP via Getty Images)
While the coronavirus pandemic in Italy continues to decrease - new cases are now around 200 a day - around the country people are starting to plan and go on summer holidays.
Now that the EU has opened its internal borders to all member states and its external borders to a number of other countries, Italy expects a fair amount of foreign tourists to arrive to its coasts as well. According to the National Tourism Agency (ENIT) in the last week of June bookings from abroad have increased by 43%, although it is foreseen that by the end of 2020 there will be a fall of 55% in the number of international tourists sojourning in Italy.
To encourage and sustain local tourism, with the latest decree the government has established a vacation bonus, where Italian families would receive a voucher of 500 ($566) to pay for domestic accommodation. While there are problems with it (it has been reported that only one in five hotels accept it as a form of payment) Italians are still eager to visit their own country during the summer season. According to recent polls, 93% of them will remain in Italy.
To ensure safety, resorts have been setting up new measures - hand-washing stations and distanced umbrellas - but beach attendance as a whole is not a very different experience from what it used to be before the coronavirus crisis started.
In the region of Liguria, among the classic destinations of northern Italians, for example, specific websites have been set up to account for how crowded the beaches are, helping bathers direct themselves to different resorts without fearing to not be admitted. There is no need for reservation. To ordinate the flow, there are also a number of stewards, to ensure that everyone can have a safe and enjoyable time.
We work 9 hours a day, from Monday to Sunday. Our association also owns an environmental certification, explains Michelangelo La Tegola, at the head of beach operations in the towns of Camogli, San Fruttuoso, Santa Margherita and Rapallo.
On the beaches of Tuscany, instead, lists are made with the names of those coming to the beach, to allow for better tracing if anyone is found to be positive to the virus. The coasts of Maremma and Argentario, being more spacious compared to those of Liguria, also allow for more people at the same time. However, the summer season here is yet to get back to its regular attendance levels.
Many clients have cancelled on the beach umbrellas or the camper vans areas due to money shortages, a lack of break time from work or just for the fear that the Covid-19 has generated. But many others, mostly freelance workers, are coming here for the first time, says Sergio Morettoni, the owner of a local beach resort.
In the region of Campania, home to the iconic Amalfi and Positano beaches, many resorts have adopted phone apps, such as Skiply and Prenota Lido to book ones attendance at the beach. There are three time slots options (between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m; between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.; or for the entire day) and some of them also allow to directly order food or drinks at the beach bar, without the need to queue. Reservation is also needed for the free beaches by calling the number 089 763810. For non residents there is a fee of 1 ($1.13) a day to attend the beach.
While needing to ensure safety to all workers and tourists, it appears that a fair balance has been found to ensure that the holiday season in Italy goes smoothly. In the country, currently the debate is rather focusing on the concessions of beach resorts, which with the latest decree have been extended until 2033. The topic has been controversial for many years, specifically since the EU approved in 2006 the so-called Bolkestein Directive, which requires that a tender system is established in the field of concessions.
Italy has managed to avoid applying the directive for many years, based on the fact that beach management is usually a family-run local business, which would be damaged by international competition. Yet, the concession system as it is now is believed to fundamentally damage the Italian State, by granting permission to operate a beach for a very cheap price and for an extended period of time (concessions are generally renewed automatically and passed on between members of the same family once they expire).
Because of this, a number of politicians in Italy have been calling for a change in the system, or at least for an increase in rental prices for the beach managers. For the moment, though, it does not appear that this is going to happen. All in all, the summer in Italy is not going to be very different from before.
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Social Distancing And Booking Apps: What To Expect On Italian Beaches This Summer - Forbes