Hotels in Rome have seen a spate of booking cancellations for late
pope John Paul II’s beatification on May 1 and local officials now say
only half the number expected by the Vatican will come.
"On
that day there will be one million two or three hundred thousand people
around Rome including Romans and concert spectators," Rome’s deputy
mayor Mauro Cutrufo was quoted by Corriere della Sera as saying.
But
the Vatican had said earlier it expected between two million and two
and a half million people to arrive in Rome for the ceremony that will
put John Paul on the path to sainthood and during which his coffin will
lie in state.
Cutrufo, who is in charge of tourism in the
city, said Saint Peter’s Square can only contain around 300,000 people
and giant screens will be set up at an ancient Roman arena, the Circo
Massimo, and in the Piazza San Giovanni area.
Giuseppe
Roscioli, head of Rome’s hotel association, said the cancellations had
come in the wake of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the
escalation of military operations in Libya, Corriere della Sera
reported.
He said there had been "a lot of cancellations as
expected" from Japanese visitors and added that a prolonged crisis in
Libya "risks keeping tourists from the United States and Southeast Asia
away from the Mediterranean."