The head of Italy's hotel industry body expressed outrage on Monday at government coronavirus rules that allow Italians to take holidays abroad but ban domestic travel.

"I can't leave my municipality, but I can fly off to the Canary Islands - it's absurd," Bernabo Bocca, head of the federation of Italian hoteliers, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

"Hoteliers feel they are being mocked. The rules must be respected, but they should be the same for everyone... otherwise they will kill Italian tourism."

Much of Italy has been under tough restrictions in recent weeks due to a third wave of coronavirus infections, meaning residents must stay in their local area, and the whole country will go into lockdown over the three-day Easter weekend starting Saturday.

Bocca said "85 per cent of hotels in Italy are forced to stay closed" -- but travelling to the airport is allowed, and to visit many overseas destinations all that is needed is a negative coronavirus test.

"We suggested coronavirus tests in hotels when people arrive and when they leave, but it was refused," the hotelier said.

He added: "We are gifting our tourists abroad."

Before the pandemic, Italy was the world's fifth-most visited destination. But visitor numbers collapsed by more than 60 per cent last year, dealing a heavy blow to the economy.