#Greece to restart tourism mid-June, international flights July 1

Greece will restart its tourism season on June 15 and gradually restore international flights from July 1 to boost its economy after the virus lockdown, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Wednesday.

With Greece suffering fewer than 170 COVID-19 deaths over two months into the pandemic, Mitsotakis said the country's prompt response to the virus would be a "passport of safety, credibility and health" to attract visitors.

"The tourism period begins June 15, when seasonal hotels can reopen, and direct international flights to our tourist destinations will gradually begin July 1," Mitsotakis said in a televised address.

"We will win the economy war just as we won the health battle," Mitsotakis said.

Tourism Minister Harry Theocharis said a list of nations resuming flights to Greece would be announced by the end of May, noting that Athens would focus on reviving a travel front "from the Balkans to the Baltic."

Bulgarians and northern Europeans including Germans will be among the first visitors, the minister said, in addition to Israelis and Cypriots.

Incoming travelers will not be required to undergo virus testing or quarantine, but sample tests will be carried out in tourist areas for epidemiological purposes, the minister said.

Greece so far has carried out fewer than 140,000 tests among 11 million.

Theocharis added that 600 beds would be specifically set aside for coronavirus care on Greek islands, which are traditionally among the country's top travel destinations.

The EU last week said holidaymakers could be asked to wear facemasks on planes, respect social distancing on the beach and even book slots to use hotel pools.

Restaurants to reopen Monday

The country, which is still recovering from a decade-long debt crisis, badly needs tourism income that directly and indirectly accounts for over a fifth of its economy.

Many operators have expressed skepticism about reopening owing to strict spacing rules.

Lockdown restrictions began to be lifted on May 4, reversing a wave of shutdowns which followed Greece's first recorded COVID-19 death on March 12.

Restaurants are scheduled to reopen on Monday after open-air archaeological sites were opened earlier this week and paid beaches over the weekend. Museums are to reopen on June 15.

According to Bank of Greece figures, the country in 2019 had over 34 million visitors and revenue of over 18 billion euros ($20 billion).

To increase Greece's appeal, tax on all transport will be reduced to 13 percent from the current 24 percent for the coming five months, the prime minister said.

And struggling businesses can be flexible with staff working hours to cut cost, he said.

The Greek finance ministry earlier on Wednesday noted that without support measures for businesses, the country could face an economic contraction of up to 13 percent this year.

The jobless rate is also expected to approach 20 percent this year.

The Greek government has announced a support package of around 24 billion euros, including EU funds, to help shore up the economy.

Source - TheJakartaPost

Italy to reopen borders for EU tourists in early June

.

Italy will reopen to European tourists from early June and scrap a 14-day mandatory quarantine period, the government said on Saturday, as it quickened the exit from the coronavirus lockdown.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also said on Saturday that gyms and cinemas would soon be able to welcome the public again, as the government seeks to restart economic activity while treading cautiously amid the lingering, though waning, coronavirus.

"We're facing a calculated risk in the knowledge that the contagion curve may rise again," Conte said during a televised address. "We have to accept it otherwise we will never be able to start up again."

Conte enforced an economically crippling shutdown in early March to counter a pandemic that has so far killed nearly 32,000 people in Italy.

The shutdown halted all holidaymaking in a country heavily dependent on the tourism industry.

Although Italy never formally closed its borders and has allowed people to cross back and forth for work or health reasons, it banned movement for tourism and imposed a two-week isolation period for new arrivals.

In March, the European Union banned foreign nationals from entering its Schengen zone, an open border zone comprising 22 of 27 member states, with exceptions for medical workers and essential travel.

But on Wednesday, the EU set out plans for a phased restart of summer travel, urging member states to reopen its internal borders, while recommending that external borders remain shut for most travel until at least the middle of June.

Beginning on June 3, visitors within the Schengen zone will be allowed to enter Italy with no obligation to self-isolate. Italians will also be able to move between regions, though local authorities can limit travel if infections spike.

Movements to and from abroad can be limited by regional decree "in relation to specific states and territories, in accordance with the principles of adequacy and proportionality to the epidemiological risk", the government said in a statement.

The latest decree is also a boon to Italy's agricultural sector, which relies on roughly 350,000 seasonal workers from abroad.

Farming lobby group Coldiretti said farms were already preparing to organie some 150,000 workers from places including Romania, Poland and Bulgaria.

Cannot await vaccine 
.

.
The peak of Italy's contagion passed at the end of March but with experts warning a second wave cannot be ruled out, Conte had been reluctant to lift the lockdown quickly.

In his address, Conte said the country should ideally await a vaccine before opening up for business again, "but we can't afford it, we would end up with a strongly damaged economic and social structure".

His approach in recent weeks frustrated many of Italy's regions, with some already allowing businesses to reopen before the restrictions were lifted.

Restaurants, bars and hairdressers are being allowed to reopen on Monday, two weeks earlier than initially planned.

Shops will also open and Italians will finally be able to see friends, as long as they live within their same region.

Church services will begin again but the faithful will have to follow social distancing rules and holy water fonts will be empty. Mosques will also reopen.

Gyms, pools and sports centers will be able to open up again on May 25, Conte said on Saturday, provided they respect security protocols.

Theaters and cinemas will be allowed to reopen on June 15, he said.

Gatherings of large groups remain banned.

Source - TheJakartaPost

EU looks to save summer holiday

 The EU will present recommendations on Wednesday to save the summer season in Europe’s reeling tourism sector, which has been pounded by the coronavirus crisis.

The European Commission will urge EU countries to gradually reopen shuttered internal borders and to above all treat each member state on the same criteria.

According to a draft seen by AFP, the Commission insists that reopening of everyday life after the pandemic must be done in a "concerted" and "non-discriminatory" manner and must remain "as harmonious as possible".

.

 .

The points are only recommendations on the part of the EU's executive as it is up to national governments to decide whether to lift the restrictions put in place to deal with the coronavirus pandemic.

Brussels recommends that when countries are in a comparable epidemiological situation and have adopted the same precautionary measures, they should be treated in the same way.

If, for example, Austria opens its borders with Germany, it must also open its borders with the Czech Republic if that country is in a comparable situation to Germany.

Similarly, when a country opens its borders with another country, it must do so for all the residents of that country, whether or not they are nationals of that country. 

This issue of restoring freedom of movement within the passport-free Schengen area is crucial for European tourism, a sector which accounts for 10 percent of the EU's GDP and 12 percent of employment.

In some southern European countries, such as Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal, this impact is even greater and if holidaymakers were to stay home, their already bad economic situation could worsen further.

In its recommendations, the commission also addresses the thorny issue of whether or not to reimburse cancelled trips and holidays.

Under EU rules, the European consumer is entitled to a cash refund, but many operators and airlines prefer to offer a credit instead.

"Carriers and tour operators should follow a common approach, offering passengers and travellers an attractive choice between a cash refund, in line with their rights under EU law, or the acceptance of a voucher," the document said.

Late last month, 12 European countries asked the European Commission to suspend the obligation for airlines to reimburse passengers whose journeys have been cancelled because of the coronavirus. 

Source - TheJakartaPost

Lufthansa to resume some European services in June

German airline giant Lufthansa said Friday it will fly twice as many aircraft in June as in recent weeks and return to some European destinations, but the flight plan remains a shadow of pre-coronavirus operations.

Spots beloved of holidaymakers like Spanish island Mallorca, Crete and German North Sea retreat Sylt will return to the timetable, with 160 aircraft aloft bearing Lufthansa's crane or the logos of subsidiaries Swiss and Eurowings.
Dest
More details of the 106 planned destinations will be published next week, Lufthansa said.

Source - TheJakartPost

#Italy - Lovers of Tuscany's 'paradise' beach have factory to thank

Holidaymakers splash in the turquoise waters of the Rosignano Solvay beach in Tuscany and laze on its pristine white sands -- most of them fully aware that the picture-perfect swimming spot owes its allure to a nearby factory.

"I discovered it on Google Maps," said Dutch tourist Lieuya, who traveled to the beach with his family to enjoy a setting more reminiscent of the Caribbean than of northern Italy.

"I was told it's not dangerous, that the colour comes from the soda factory next door," he told AFP.

Questions have lingered for decades over why the sea and sand are such startling colours -- with some environmentalists suggesting the phenomenon is caused by heavy metals emitted by the plant.

The beach, about four kilometers (two-and-a-half miles) long, is named after the Solvay factory, which produces soda ash for making glass as well as sodium bicarbonate, or baking soda.

The plant strenuously denies polluting the surrounding coastline.

Tourists taking a dip or settling down in beach chairs for a light pasta lunch are not worried about the striking contrast between the waters off Rosignano Solvay and those of the nearby Monte alla Rena beach.

"Every time I come here, I think that if swimming is allowed by local, regional and national authorities, we can believe them when they say that the water is clean," says Italian teacher Marina, who declined to give her last name.

A notice from the regional environmental protection agency Arpat at the beach entrance says the water quality is "excellent".

Swimming is banned along a small stretch of the beach, but that is because of a strong current in the area.

The plant, some 25 kilometers south of the port city Livorno, opened at the start of the last century and a new town -- Rosignano Solvay -- sprang up to house workers and their families.

Today, the global chemical giant operates in 61 countries and boasts some 24,500 employees.

- Reflection of the sky -

"Solvay was like a mother to this area of Tuscany. We called it 'mamma'," Leonardo Martinelli, a journalist born in the town and whose mother worked at Solvay for half a century, told AFP.

Belgian industrialist Ernest Solvay, the plant's founder, "guaranteed well-being by opening a school, a hospital and a theater," he said.

The factory has ensured "the unemployment rate has always been low," he added.

The group's industrial director Davide Papavero told AFP the company "respects all the rules of a high-risk site".

"The plant... only discharges powdery deposits of limestone, a harmless substance that is safe for the environment, but explains the white color of the sand," he said.

The startling blue of the water is caused by the reflection of the sky against the white sea floor, Papavero added.

Local mayor Daniele Donati also insists the plant's activities "do not pose any health problems".

But Maurizio Marchi, from Italy's Medicina Democratica health association, says the plant is a blight.

"The reality is that for a century, this place has been a Solvay landfill, an industrial landfill," he insists.

Environmentalists have also deplored the gutting of limestone hills near San Vincenzo and mass extraction of rock salt.

Manolo Morandini, a journalist with local daily Il Tirreno who has written extensively on the subject, says Marchi's concerns would once have been valid, but no longer.

"In the 1980s it was indeed a toxic beach. But the production cycle that used mercury and heavy metals has been changed," he said.

He says the famous white beach is nothing more than an "artificial" construct -- one which nonetheless offers holidaymakers a slice of paradise.

Source - TheJakartaPost