As countries are starting to look towards lifting border restrictions, some of the world’s most famous heritage sites have also followed suit despite COVID-19 still being a threat.
Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity and the ruins of ancient Pompeii in Italy reopened to pilgrims and tourists on Tuesday, as countries further eased coronavirus controls and reopened shuttered economies.
For many nations, including hard-hit Italy and Spain, the summer season will be key to saving what is left of the tourism industry and the latest tentative steps out of lockdown buoyed world markets.
But, while now past its peak in Asia and much of Europe, the new coronavirus is continuing its spread. On Tuesday the number of case passed the 5.5 million mark, according to an AFP tally of official sources.
The number of declared cases in the world has doubled in a month and more than one million new cases of COVID-19 have been registered in the last 11 days. More than 346,000 deaths have been recorded worldwide.
The virus, and the associated national economic and social lockdowns decreed to halt its spread, have also plunged the world economy into a terrible slump — and ominous figures and forecasts continue to pile up.
Holy birthplace
But there have been also signs of hope at some of the world’s best known and symbolic destinations.
In Bethlehem, the Church of the Nativity — built on the spot where Christians believe their saviour Jesus was born — reopened its doors after more than two months.
Once inside, Greek Orthodox Bishop Theophylactos kissed an icon while a priest scattered holy water in the grotto where Jesus is said to have rested in a manger.
Palestinian authorities believe the COVID-19 virus came to Bethlehem with a group of Greek tourists — and the virus outbreak has devastated the travel industry worldwide.
Return of a historical icon
Nevertheless, in Italy — once the world epicentre of infections after it spread to Europe from China — the site of a previous natural disaster also reopened to visitors.
The ruins of the Roman city of Pompeii, destroyed by a volcanic eruption in 79 AD and preserved through the centuries in a layer of ash, attracted four million visitors last year.
It has now reopened, but foreign visitors are still prohibited from travel to Italy until next month, and locals from the Naples region found the site deserted.
“It’s only us guides, and journalists,” sighed 48-year-old Valentina Raffone, noting a “sense of emptiness, of sadness” as if after a disaster on the scale of the city’s end.
Italian foreign minister Luigi di Maio says he is working with EU colleagues to agree on June 15 as a coordinated day for member states to reopen their borders and tourist regions.
