An Italian island will pay for your flights and hotel in new scheme to encourage tourists to return – The Sun

AN island in Italy is offering to pay for half of your plane ticket, as well as a night at a hotel and your attraction entry fees in a bid to encourage tourists to return.

Sicily, located off the south of Italy, is attempting to lure foreign visitors back to the island after the lockdown ends on May 4.

The offers, first reported by The Times, will be available on the island's tourism website.

For every three nights you stay at a hotel, they will cover one of them, along with museum and archeological entry tickets.

The government will use €50 million (£43 million) to fund the scheme, with losses of €1 billion (£876,000) reported from March and April.

Italy sees 13 per cent of its GDP from tourism and is keen to attract tourists once the pandemic slows.

It's hardly the first time the island has offered good deals to entice people to visit.


Last year, the towns of Mussomeli and Sambuca in Sicily offered houses for just 90p as local numbers dwindled.

The only catch was that new owners had to fork out up to £13,000 to renovate the houses within the first year of buying them.

The rest of Italy is looking at ways to restart the tourist industry after being the hotspot of coronavirus in Europe.

A region in Italy has drawn up plans for tourists to use "plexiglass boxes" while relaxing on the beach to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

As countries add strict measures to contain the deadly virus, plans have been drawn up as a suggestion for busy beaches.

The new designs include 2m high plexiglass screens being dubbed "chicken coops" by local media.

However, lifeguards and club owners in the area have slammed the proposal, claiming it was "unrealistic".

Il Ciak restaurant in Rome, Italy, is also trialing a new plexiglass separator to allow people to return to dining out again.

Italy has the second highest death toll in the world, with 25,549 fatalities from a confirmed case count of 189,973.

Hotels elsewhere in the world are offering guests free upgrades and extra night to encourage them to stay, as coronavirus causes bookings to plummet.

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