From Venice to Lake Como, Italy’s tourist gems fight to stay afloat

MILAN – Just over a year into the pandemic, Venice remains a ghost town. Portofino, a colourful playground for the jet-set on the Ligurian coast, and Varenna on the shores of Lake Como are also deserted.

The coronavirus has taken a heavy toll on tourism in Italy, the world’s fifth-most visited destination — and with a third wave now under way, there is no obvious end in sight.

The collapse in the number of tourists to Italy was jaw-dropping last year, with only 25.5 million foreign visitors spending at least one night in the peninsula, versus 65 million in 2019 — a drop of more than 60 percent.

That corresponded to revenue of only 17.45 billion euros ($20.6 billion), 26.85 billion euros less than the prior year,…