milan the focal point of the coronavirus emergency in europe italy is also the regions weakest economy and is taking an almighty hit as foreigners stop visiting its cultural treasures or buying its prized artisanal products from fashion to food to designeuropes thirdlargest economy has long been among the slowest growing in the region and is the one that is tallying the largest number of virus infections outside asiaentire towns are quarantined in the north the heart of italys manufacturing and financial industries airlines have cut back on flights to the country meaning millions fewer travelers are expected causing billions in losses for hotels restaurants tourist sites and many othersthe turmoil is expected to push italy back into recession and weigh more broadly on the european economy with tradefocused countries like germany france and britain also struggling with the global disruption to supply chains and traveli am getting cancellations through june said stefania stea who has two hotels in venice where the carnival cancellation emptied the city in a single afternoon and sent occupation rates plunging to an unheard of 1 per cent2 per cent stea who is vice president of the venice hoteliers association is tallying cancellations worth 700010000 euros 770011000 a day for her 39 rooms all currently emptythe only reservations i am getting are for christmas or new years eve with people hoping for a deal italys economy is forecast to shrink this quarter with bocconi university economist francesco daveri predicting a 03 per cent that would match a surprise shrinkage in the last quarter of 2019 and would put the country in a technical recessionthe country has already shed 4 of gdp in backtoback recessions in the first two decades of the century and recovery has been stalled for the last two yearsbanks are still trying to burn off a pile of bad loans left over from the financial crisis a decade ago and the governments public debt load the highest in europe after greece limits the countrys ability to significantly ramp up spending to help the economy if neededthe tourism and luxury industries were the first but not last to sound the alarmtourism officials are projecting 32 million fewer foreign visitors and a loss of 74 billion euros 81 billion in the second quarter alone before the arrival of the makeorbreak summer travel season foreign airlines are canceling flights to milan italys financial and fashion capital and to venice a top destinationthe tourism industry decries what it describes as confusing and hyperbolic media coverage of the virus outbreak creating more concern among italians travelers and business partners than perhaps warrantedunfortunately we are paying the price of a media communication that has been much more lethal than the virus said luca patane the president of tourism association confturismoconfcommercioeven before the virus arrived in italy luxury fashion officials projected a 2 firsthalf contraction that was based solely on weaker spending by chinese consumers who are the biggest luxury buyers in the world accounting