Italy, Spain, Egypt: Is there still hope for the Germans' summer vacation?

Beach holidays on the Adriatic, hiking in Austria or just a short city tour to Paris – what will be possible this summer is still completely unclear. The fact that the Corona pandemic has upset all Easter holiday plans has been accepted by most as an alternative. But what if trips abroad are not yet possible during the main holiday season from June to August, when all of Germany has to stay at home in summer? Because the topic is so explosive, for a long time no one dared to predict whether this could happen.

But now the first are moving forward. "From the current perspective, I think the likelihood that vacationing in other countries is so easy in summer is rather unlikely," said Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) on Thursday. Shortly afterwards, the Federal Government's Tourism Commissioner, Thomas Bareiß (CDU), followed suit. "The summer vacation this year is more likely to take place in Germany," he told the Funke media group.

Federal government is still waiting – Maas is cautious

Federal Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) has not yet gone that far. "As long as there are curfews in many countries, there will be no vacation there," he says, but adds: "We will decide from week to week."

Maas is the one who has the lever to give the starting signal for summer vacation abroad. In mid-March he issued a travel warning for tourists for all countries in the world – an unprecedented event in the history of the Federal Republic. A number of conditions would have to be met for a waiver:

First of all tourist trips within Germany be made possible again. Until May 3, the following applies: Domestic day trips should be avoided, the hotels are closed. A new decision is scheduled for April 30.

The limits would have to be opened again for travel, flight connections would have to be resumed. Maas would like a European vote for this. This is not going to be easy: When the borders were closed, the EU member states initially acted on their own. In any case, EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen recently gave little hope of a return to control-free travel in Europe.

It must be certain that foreign travelers will also have no problems can come back again. The Federal Foreign Office has just brought back more than 240,000 tourists stranded due to the Corona crisis in an unprecedented act of strength with tour operators and airlines. That should remain an exception.

You can find all the latest developments in the corona virus in our news ticker .

Gloomy prospects in the main travel countries: Italy and France expect the worst

Ultimately, everything depends on how the situation develops in the main travel destinations, some of which are among the countries most affected by the corona pandemic. And it currently looks bleak:

– Italy: Tourism is the hardest hit business in the country. Tens of thousands of jobs depend on it. Therefore, all kinds of curious ideas are blooming, how one could guarantee a safer beach stay. There are discussions about admission restrictions on beaches as well as about disinfectants on sun loungers or a mask requirement when sunbathing.

But hardly anyone expects tourism to start up again in summer. "We can only open when there is absolute security. Who wants to lie on the beach when they are afraid of infection," said Mauro Vanni from the association of bathing establishments in the holiday town of Rimini. There are also absurd ideas such as plexiglass boxes around the sun beds or disinfected tunnels to the beach useless.

– France: The tourism industry expects millions of foreign tourists to stay away this summer. Health Minister Olivier Véran emphasized that during and after a pandemic it was not the right time for great international mobility. The government recently advised against currently booking a trip because the situation was still too uncertain. But that doesn't mean that people will have to cancel their summer vacation this year. The head of the SNCF State Railways, Jean-Pierre Farandou, said he hoped that 100 percent of the TGV trains would run again by the beginning of summer.

Spain makes a bleak forecast – Austria and Turkey arouse hope

– Spain: Party in Mallorca, relaxing in the Canary Islands? Rather not. Tourism in Spain will not get going before the end of the year, the government warned in Madrid these days. Government spokeswoman María Jesús Montero said the country would only resume tourism activities if there were "guarantees of extremely safe conditions".

Yolanda Díaz, Minister of Labor, said it would not be that far in the summer. It warned not only the tourism industry, but also the hospitality industry and the cultural and long-distance transport sectors that reactivation in these areas could only be expected towards the end of the year.

– Austria: Austria's Minister of Tourism Elisabeth Köstinger has indicated that she is willing to talk to Germany about travel options in the summer. "The restriction on travel freedom will remain with us in the next few months," said the ÖVP politician to the newspaper "Die Presse" (Sunday).

"But if countries are also on a very good and positive path, such as Germany, there is certainly the possibility that bilateral agreements can be reached." In doing so, she replied to the question of whether tourists come to Austria in summer and, conversely, Austrians can travel abroad. German tourists had booked more than 37 percent of overnight stays in Austria in the 2019 summer season.

– Turkey: After all, confident tones come from Turkey. Europe is already on the way to recovery, so that guests could start traveling again slowly in June, says Osman Ayik from the Turkish Hotel Federation. He hopes for a spirit of optimism after the lifting of the restrictions: Then people could thirst to travel again.

Egypt loses up to a billion a month

– Egypt: The beaches of Hurghada are deserted. In the popular seaside resort in Egypt, the loungers of these days are stacked into towers, not a single tourist can be seen under the parasols. Because of the Corona crisis, holidaymakers left, hotels and restaurants were closed. The hotels in Hurghada are only staffed with the most necessary staff, says Marcel Lauck, who comes from Mannheim and runs a bar in Hurghada. "There's just nothing going on in the streets. You only see a few joggers. The sea is also cordoned off."

The beaches in Sharm El Sheikh, another popular seaside resort in Egypt, are deserted, residents say. Like Hurghada – and Egypt in general – the place lives very strongly from tourism. More than 13 million vacationers visited the North African country in 2019. Many Germans travel regularly to relax on the beach or go diving. This income has now been broken down by the corona virus. Some experts suspect that the industry is losing $ 1 billion a month due to the crisis.

Greece is hoping for June and a restart in 2021

– Greece: Until May 15th there will be no passenger flights from Germany to Greece, where a curfew has been imposed until April 27th. Only 300 hotels are currently open nationwide, while thousands have been closed since mid-March. It is hoped that many of them will open again in June.

It is likely that the restrictions in air and shipping traffic will be extended. "It is very difficult to plan ahead in these times because we do not know how long the fear of the corona virus will last," said Greek Hotel Reporter President Grigoris Tasios, the Greek Reporter. He hopes to start the Greek tourist season on July 1st. "But this is speculative because everything will depend on how the virus situation develops," said Tasios.

However, the focus is already on the coming year. Vice Tourism Minister Manos Konsolas said 2021 will mark the restart of the tourism industry. For this new start, the Greek Tourism Association (SETE) has presented a ten-point plan on how the economy can recover from the crisis caused by Covid-19, reports the Athens morning newspaper "Kathemerini".

The tour operators have not yet lost the summer

Even large tour operators in Germany have not yet lost the summer travel season that runs until October – this also applies to the important international business. Industry leader Tui is optimistic. "We assume that we will fly guests to various holiday destinations again in midsummer," said a company spokesman.

The company is currently using the time to prepare. Tui is in close contact with the governments in the holiday countries and is developing extensive safety and hygiene standards together with hotel partners. This also applies to the Group's cruise ships and planes. "As soon as people can travel again, they will do it. We will then be ready to start traveling again," said the Tui spokesman.

FTI is also convinced that "after a long time at home, Germans will definitely want to travel again as quickly as possible, perhaps even more than ever". The organizer has not completely written off the summer. A quick decision about a possible end of the travel warning would be "helpful and desirable" from the Munich perspective.

The FTI subsidiary MP Hotels is therefore preparing for the reopening of the individual hotels. "For example, there is a consideration of only occupying hotels with a maximum of half as many guests as possible in order to be able to comply with minimum clearance rules in public areas or by the pool without any problems," explained an FTI spokeswoman.

Holidaymakers are split – more than a quarter stick to plans

"This summer of travel will certainly be different than in previous years," said Norbert Fiebig, President of the German Travel Association, the "Tagesspiegel" (Saturday edition). Relaxation of travel restrictions will be gradual and wise. Vacation trips would initially only be possible in certain regions of Germany.

"Even in some European countries that have coped well with the corona pandemic, it will probably be possible in a second step to travel under certain precautions," Fiebig continued.

And what do the vacationers do? You are divided. According to the ARD "Germany Trend", 14 percent of Germans have already canceled their vacation, 21 percent have postponed planned bookings. According to the survey, 28 percent still want to stick to their travel plans. 31 percent had no intention of traveling anyway.