Italian island will pay for flights and hotel to boost tourism after coronavirus

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

The tempting offers, reported by The Times, will be available to book on the island’s tourism website Visit Sicily.

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

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

Italy sees 13% of its GDP from tourism and is keen to attract travellers back to the hotspot once the pandemic slows down.

Meanwhile, Italy has the second highest death toll in the world, with over 26,000 confirmed deaths in the European country.

Currently the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has advised against all but the most essential travel.

Some airlines have cancelled flights until May or June, with millions of Brits facing holiday disappointment.

Jet2 has cancelled all flights and holidays until June 17, 2020, while easyJet grounded its fleet for a minimum of two months.

Meanwhile, British Airways is still operating flights and are adopting a flexible “book with confidence” policy.

The means you can change the date or destination of your holiday if you make a new booking between March 3, 2020 and May 31, 2020, so long as the departure date is also in 2020.