COVID has been a ‘total disaster’ for tourism to Sicily, as it has been for many destinations.  But now the Italian region is investing millions of euro to incentivise international visitors to return. “Tourism is worth 15% of the gross domestic product, and in some areas it even represents 40%”, says tourism councillor Manlio Messina. 2020 will be remembered by tourism operators for many years.

The lockdown involved all sectors of the Italian and Sicilian economies. These months have caused a total disaster, but our duty is to look forward to tomorrow. There are signs of optimism. Messina says, “we are far below previous years in terms of tourists, but the numbers are beginning to give us some hope. The data relating to reservations for August are comforting, but certainly not decisive for the crisis situation that generated the COVID-19 pandemic.”