Italy hoteliers: US travel advisory 'final blow' to tourism

A U.S. government advisory urging Americans to reconsider travel to Italy due to spread of a new virus is “final blow” to nation's tourism industry, head of Italy's hotel federation said Saturday.

Late Friday, U.S. government issued a level three advisory — second-highest level of warning — for whole of Italy, saying that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had recommended “avoiding nessential travel.”

Or major countries have only issued warnings about defined areas of rrn Italy where most cases of new coronavirus have been recorded. Italy currently has confirmed almost 900 cases, by far highest figure outside Asia. re have been 21 deaths among people with virus.

More than 5.6 million Americans visit Italy every year, second-largest national group behind Germans, according to most recent statistics. y represent 9% of foreign tourists in Italy, and are among biggest spenders at an aver of 140 euros a day for a collective total of 5 billion euros a year, hotel federation Federalberghi said.

“We had already registered a slowdown of Americans coming to Italy in recent days,” Federalberghi President Bernabo Bocca said in a statement. “w final blow has arrived.”

With Italy registering greatest number of infections outside of Asia, Assoturismo Italian tourism federation has put cancellations in Rome at 90%. Venice, which was nearing recovery in Carnival season following a tourist lull after record flooding in vember, saw bookings drop immediately after regional officials canceled final two days of celebrations this week, unprecedented in modern times.

Even before U.S. advisory, Italian government late Friday took action to help tourism industry, delaying deadlines for tax payments and a moratorium on industry mortgs.

Bocca called measures insufficient, and asked all levels of government to adopt urgent measures to guarantee cash flow to tourism operators to protect jobs and avoid ‘’ collapse of an industry'' that operates 300,000 businesses and employs 1.5 million people.