Rome – Image by Matthias Lemm
By Michelle Rahimi
Italy update
“International tourists are back in Italy and they’re giving the country’s culture and entertainment sector a much-needed boost after the ‘annus horribilis.’”
With opening borders, international travel is swinging again this summer in Europe and comes as a huge relief for millions of adventure-seekers, workers in hospitality, culture, and the entertainment sector.
The year that COVID-19 emerged is being called the “annus horribilis,” which is Latin for horrible year. This is because it was so devastating to Italy’s cultural economy: Museums, castles, Roman villas, opera houses, art fairs, concerts, local festivities, and sporting tournaments were on put on hold to protect from the novel coronavirus, which hit Italy first in Europe.
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Italy’s firefighters continue to battle raging forest fires nationwide, with one forcing an airport in Sicily to close temporarily, said dpa international.
The fire brigade was involved in more than 800 operations during the past 24 hours due to the forest fires, they said in a tweet on Saturday morning.
Emergency crews were called out 250 times in Sicily alone, where a fire broke out on Friday just outside the coastal city of Catania.
France update
There was a glimmer of hope that France could be released from the ‘amber-plus’ list, meaning the fully vaccinated will finally be able to return to the UK without the need to quarantine.
But it could still go into the amber watch category.
Senior ministers, including Transport Secretary Grant Shapps and Chancellor Rishi Sunak, are said to have reservations about imposing further disruption on the beleaguered travel sector.
About the author:
Michelle Rahimi is a Diplomacy and International Relation’s Master’s candidate at the School for International Training, located in Brattleboro, Vermont, United States of America.
She obtains an extensive passion for international relations with first-hand knowledge from traveling across many countries and is experienced in working with different teams and individuals from diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds.
