Italy is one of the largest tourist destinations in the world. Every month, thousands of tourists flock to Italy to see the great monuments and experience culture of the Italians. Being such a big travel destination, the tourism industry provides jobs for many Italians as well as provides a large income for Italy.
It would be expected that with the huge returns from the tourism sector that Italy would be able to maintain its monuments and maintain its cultural heritage but sadly this is not the case. Italy has been having economic problems and this seems to be affecting the Italian tourism sector as well. Some of the monuments that tourists travel to see are in ruins and there doesn't seem to be any signs of them being repaired anytime soon.
Italy has a lot of history that has been there for centuries and there is a great need to preserve it and make sure that it does not die off. Times may be tough but that is not sufficient excuse for the Italian government to ignore the repair and maintenance of its tourist attractions.
If the monuments are preserved and the living arts are supported Italy could continue to enjoy the fruits of tourism for a long time to come. however if nothing is done and the monuments are not preserved and taken care of to ensure that they last many more years, then Italy is bound to have some even more tough economic times. Preserving what they have now could be the reason they get out of the bad economic situation that they are in right now.
Maintaining the monuments may be expensive but it is not an impossible task. Greece is another country that has been suffering the same problem of finding a way of maintaining its monuments. The cultural minister for Greece announced that they would be opening up some archeological sites to movies, advertising firms and other companies in order to generate money that will go to maintaining the sites. Most scholars are not thrilled by the resolution but at least something is being done to ensure that such sites are preserved.
There are certain investors who are keen on ensuring that the Italian monuments do not go into ruins and the government should take advantage of this to get funds to help maintain the monuments. For example: The Colosseum which is one of the biggest attractions in Italy is in serious need of repairs. Billionaire Diego Della Valle has made donations of 25 million Euros to go into the repair and maintenance of the site but protests and investigations into the project may just lead him to retract his funds. The government should make n effort to secure this investment by quickly settling whatever protests that may lead the billionaire to take back his funds.
The Italian tourism authorities can be seen to be making efforts to try and maintain the sites and monuments. Recently, the government promised to unblock 105 million Euros from the European Union which will all go into maintaining the countries cultural heritage as well as the historical sites and monuments.
Although the Italian governments seems to be making an effort, there is still a lot more to be done to ensure that all the historical monuments and living arts in the country are preserved. Italy is a beautiful country and its historical monuments will remain atractive for tourists for centures, but only if they are well preserved today.