The Legal Impacts of COVID-19 in the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry

2 same happened to cinemas, theatres and discos. Then, the museums were closed, and the catering and food and drink selling services were restricted from 6.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m., being the manager obligated to guarantee compliance with the social distancing requirements (at least one meter between people). Failure to do so would cause the business to be temporarily shut down. On 9 March, the day after the publication of the first decree, a second, stricter one, was published. This decree extended the restrictions, previously limited to some areas, to the whole of Italy, due to the rapid worsening of the crisis, and the restrictions became even more drastic. Since it was necessary to replace mere administrative law provisions with another deed having force of law, the Decree-Law No. 19 of 25 March 2020 was enacted. This decree specified that further measures, even more severe, could be undertaken and applied to the entire national territory for pre-set, repeatable periods up to thirty days in length, until 31 July 2020. As of 8 March, as a proof of the widespread nature of the epidemic, every restaurant and refreshment industry business close, travelling from the place of residence for mere recreational purposes was banned, just like all travels abroad and cruises; this damaged all accommodation facilities because tourist activities were basically declared unlawful. Sleeping in hotels is now prohibited, unless needed for well documented work-related needs and for the same time travel by plane is forbidden. Presently, about five to ten per cent of hotels and no restaurants at all are reported be open. In a more assertive and even repetitive way, with a decree on 28 March 2020, the Minister of Health has banned maritime, lake, rail and road flights and transports, except for proven needs and in compliance with a procedure aimed at ascertaining the health of authorised passengers. The docking of ships flying a foreign flag for cruises, as well as their possible idle stop in an Italian port, has been categorically banned. Tourist services can only be carried out after 13 April, but, today, no one stipulates similar agreements and operators cannot operate except electronically, also because it is quite obvious that these measures will be extended to an unknown, but surely not close, date. The purpose of this work is to investigate the