ROME – Italy’s organised tourism businesses have lost 300 million euros in revenue in the last year and a half, due to the inability to obtain or renew passports quickly, the president of Confcommercio’s Federation of Organised Tourism claimed.

 Franco Gattinoni, president of the FTO, spoke out about the failure of the Ministry of the Interior to punctually provide Italians with passports, meaning many tourists had to cancel their planned trips abroad. He said that “incomprehensible” failure of the Ministry of the Interior equated to around 167,000 fewer trips, as clients did not receive their passports from the Ministry on time.

 The problem is not only with passports, but also with electronic identity cards which allow Italians to travel throughout the European Economic Area and certain other countries without a passport. There is also a backlog in booking appointments to request passports and identity cards.

 Six associations representing the organised tourism businesses have written a letter to Minister of the Interior “for the umpteenth time” requesting faster issuing times. Gattinoni explained that the businesses have repeatedly raised this issue to both the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of the Interior, however nothing has happened after a year and a half.

 Speaking on Radio 24, Gattinoni said that he was “angry” and the businesses “will ask for damages from the Ministry of Justice." He added that he hoped the issue could be resolved soon.

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