Limone Tourism Concerns as Operators Warn of Collapse Amid Road Closure

Chicco Risatti is the president of the Riviera del Limoni Consortium: three hundred hotels between Limone and Salò, passing through Gargnano, Gardone, and Toscolano Maderno, with visits to Tremosine, Tignale, Magasa, and Valvestino; 3,500 workers (7-800 from Trentino), 13,000 beds.

Operators’ Resolutions and Concerns

“We do not accept decisions made from above without consultation, without discussion. We were peacefully waiting for January 8th, the meeting between the parties, when this blow suddenly fell on us. Do they know they are throwing away years and years of work? Do they know that if four major tour operators, Thompson, Tui, Imagams, Hotelplan, remove us from their catalogs, we all close shop?”

We are astonished and convinced that if Limone were in Trento province, the idea of closing a road for two years would not even cross their minds,” the outburst is torrent-like, a perfect sign of the alarm level reflected in President Risatti’s words.

The Challenges of the Tourism Sector

“An hour and a half to reach the nearest emergency room, which is Gargano: is this what we can put on our brochures for our clients? Fifty years ago, we were all fishermen: should we go back to that life? Limone has 1.1 million stays per year: everyone on a boat? We pour our soul out to withstand competition from Croatia to Trasimeno. And now they come and propose closing everything down for two seasons.”

Do they realize what they are saying?,” announces President Risatti. For now, operators remain patiently waiting for the results of a meeting already convened with all the mayors of the Lombardian side of the lake. But if no practical alternatives come from politicians, they will do something.

“We don’t know what, but we cannot accept being strangled like this.”