Intesa to plough 5 bn into tourism (4)

(ANSA) - Rome, January 11 - Italy's largest bank by assets Intesa Sanpaolo said Thursday it was ready to plough five billion euros over three years into Italy's tourism sector after a deal with the culture ministry. The three-year 'Pact for Tourism 4.0' will be accompanied by "a series of measures of joint action all along the chain of production of the firms in the sector, the two sides said. They said they would shortly release the support package for the Italian tourist sector, a sector which is worth 185 billion euros a year, making up an 11.8% chunk of GDP and 12.8% of Italian employment. Culture Minister Dario Franceschini said "the private sector is lagging, it should invest in tourism".
    He said "the sector is in very strong growth, synergies are need with the public sector," he said.
    photo: Intesa Sanpaolo CEO Carlo Messina