The first tourists are due to vacation in Italy again as the dramatic coronavirus outbreak that hit the country earlier this year continues to ebb, foreign minister Luigi Di Maio said in Rome on Monday.
"We are receiving the first bookings," Di Maio said at a press conference with German counterpart Heiko Mass.
The reservations are being made by tourists from Germany and France as well as from other European Union countries, Di Maio stated.
Italy reopened its borders earlier this month but Di Maio cautioned that it was "too early" to predict how much the COVID-19 pandemic would impact the tourist industry.
"We have worked to ensure that citizens can move freely around the enlarged Schengen Area but we can't expect the same levels of tourism as before the pandemic," Di Maio stated.
Before this year's COVID-19 pandemic, tourism made up around 13 percent of Italy's economic output (GDP).
.jpg)
