Tourism restarting, foreigners returning says Garavaglia

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 10 - Tourism is restarting and foreigners are returning to Italy, Tourism Minister Massimo Garavaglia told an ANSA Forum Thursday.
    "It'll take a bit of time to get back to the data of 2019 but there are two positive data: one novelty is the vaccine, which allows us to to reopen and no ,longer close down in September, and the second novelty is the return of foreigners' flows, albeit not at 100% and with a more diluted return over time", he told the Forum titled 'Tourism Is Restarting, Italy Is Restarting'.
    Garavaglia added that a digital revolution was "central" for the tourism of the future.
    "The central point is the digital revolution," he said.
    "We must advertise the individual realities, a thing which cannot be taken for granted.
    "There is scant knowledge of the various Italian realities and the digital sector is fundamental, we must press on with a more active digital promotion in order to restart the art cities and bring the foreigners back".
    Bernabò Bocca, head of Italian hoteliers group Federalberghi, told the Forum that the restart of tourism would be slow and many places would be left empty in the summer, calling on Italians to visit art cities.
    He said that "too much confusion on rules", on COVID quarantines and other issues, was "braking the return of foreign tourists".
    (ANSA).