German Tourism Industry Blames Politicians as Summer Vacation Bookings Drop
The German tourism industry is holding responsible the lawmakers of the country for not providing opportunities of travelling abroad as the German citizens are not showing interest in booking their summer holidays due to the current COVID-19 pandemic situation.
Michael Frenzel, the Federal Association of the German Tourism Industry (BTW) president, explained that the figures show a decrease in bookings for summer 2021, AtoZSerwisPlus.De reports.
“For the summer season, bookings are 76 per cent below the figures for the same period last year in terms of turnover,” Frenzel said, commenting on the fall of demand in summer bookings.
Frenzel believes that those who provide a vaccination certificate and the ones that have received a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine should be allowed to travel, as travelling is not a privilege but a fundamental human right. Thus, Digital Green Certificates are seen as necessary to support safe travel.
In addition to that, according to BTW, the cancellations of summer bookings during spring have begun to exceed the actual bookings.
However, it is expected that during the third quarter of the year people might book a late summer holiday, which would help the industry tremendously. Similarly, the tourism chief inferred that most people are hoping to travel during the fall while pointing out a significant decline in bookings during this period compared to previous summer months.
The head of the BTW also called on the German lawmakers by saying that if they wish for the tourism industry to survive, they need to stop stigmatising the concept of travelling.
According to recent surveys, German citizens’ desire to travel is great, but there is also a lot of concern. As a result, the data shows that in December 2020, deals on pre-booked package tours for summer 2021 were decreased by 68 per cent compared to the previous year’s data.
Similarly, for the period of Easter holidays, travel and booking demand were down as well, according to German travel associations.
Currently, Germany has imposed stricter rules for countries where Coronavirus variants are more dominant, and the infection rate is continuously rising, including here the UK, Ireland, Brazil, Portugal, and South Africa, by banning all forms of transportation to and from these countries.
In contrast, Greece plans on reopening the tourism sector even though the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected many European countries. The country’s lockdown restrictions continue to remain in place.
Previously, a survey conducted by AtoZSerwisPlus.de showed that 87 per cent of travellers desperately need to take a trip outside of their country, mainly to visit their family members and friends.
Another 71 per cent of the respondents claimed that couples suffered the most from the current situation, whereas 51 per cent believed that it is not risky to travel abroad this year, in spite of the COVID-19 spread.
