Foreign tourists won't have to quarantine once allowed back to Italy: Minister

Italy's transport minister says tourists from abroad won't have to go into quarantine once they are able to visit again.

Presently during pandemic travel restrictions, foreigners can enter Italy for as long as five days but only for work reasons. Then they must leave.

Transport Minister Paola De Micheli told the foreign press association in Rome on Monday that when that restriction can be lifted depends on how coronavirus infection rates are running in specific countries.

When visitors for pleasure eventually can resume travel to Italy, we can't insist that a tourist comes and goes into quarantine, the minister said.

Tourism is a major Italian industry. So far, Italians can't even leave their home region to travel within the country for tourism. De Micheli estimated travel between Italian regions would probably resume sometime in the first half of June.

If Italians go abroad, they won't be required to quarantine upon return if the epidemiological situation is under control in the country they have visited, the minister said.

Meanwhile, Italy is trying to convince other European Union countries to agree upon common health rules to allow tourists to move around within the EU, perhaps by creating touristic corridors with standardized COVID-19 safety measures.