Italy: Weak economy keeping Italians at home

Rome, 15 June (AKI) - The economic crisis is keeping Italians at home.

The period from 2010 to 2012 has shown a 13 percent rise in Italians who take no summer vacation, according to the Confeserrcenti-Swg business trade organization.

Some 33.33 million Italians will take a summer break this year, but this is down from 39 million two years ago, the Confeserrcenti report said. The average vacation this year will be 12 days and cost 906 euros.

Thirty-nine percent of those polled say the leading factor keeping them at home is the amount of income they can set aside for vacation; the economic situation, with 22 percent; and taxes being the top worry for 10 percent.

Italy is suffering its fourth recession since 2001 with almost 10 percent unemployment. Critics of austerity measures in Italy, Greece, Spain and other European countries say the spending cuts have exacerbated an already weak economic situation.

The country's almost 2 trillion euros of debt is the world's fourth-biggest debt. Rising costs for financing its loans late last year prompted investors to speculate it could default on interest payments, leading to the resignation of Silvio Berlusconi's government.

Prime minister Mario Monti and a team of unelected so-called technocrat ministers have raised taxes and implemented pension reforms to designed to reduce the debt load. But criticism is increasing that the reforms are causing the recession to deepen.