In a tourism lure, Italian island boasts COVID-free status

The island of Capri, in Italy’s Naples, recently upped its tourism
game with the country looking to accelerate its way out of lockdown. With tourism
amounting to about 13% of the Southern European nation’s GDP, the island’s plan
to attract visitors has been its ‘COVID-19 free’ status.

Reportedly, the pitch this year has been that every resident in the island
has been vaccinated.

“Capri covid-free: a message of beauty and serenity for an Italy that wants to be reborn”, The Governor of the Campania region, Vincenzo
De Luca, tweeted out on May 8.

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“We are preparing to welcome millions of tourists and to prevent
them from going to Spain or Greece.

Now… it is essential not to waste time. The hotel sector must make
its decisions by May, otherwise we will lose an entire tourist season”, De Luca
was quoted by CNN as saying, adding that the vaccination program was nearly
concluded and that the effort would be turning the island of Capri into a ‘COVID-19
free’ zone.

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Marino Lembo, Mayor of Capri, reportedly said that out of 15,000
inhabitants of the island, about 80% had received their first dose of the COVID-19
vaccine.

The tourism sector in the island saw a 70% drop in turnover in 2020.

Apart from Capri, the island of Procida – located also in Naples – finished
its vaccination process several days ahead of the former.