Mallorca works, the North Sea doesn't: Bareiß calls for hotels to be opened at Easter

Sunday March 14th 2021

Mallorca is possible, the North Sea is not
Bareiß calls for hotels to be opened at Easter

Travel to Mallorca is possible again, but hotels in the Black Forest remain closed to tourists? If that were the case at Easter, it would be "a very bitter message" for the Federal Government's Tourism Commissioner. Bareiß calls for opening steps from the next Corona summit.

After the travel warning for Mallorca and other holiday areas abroad was lifted, the Federal Government’s Tourism Commissioner, Thomas Bareiß, is calling for holidays in Germany to be made possible again. "For me it would be difficult to imagine that holidays in Mallorca are possible, but hotels in the Black Forest are still closed. That would be a very bitter message," said the CDU politician.

Thomas Bareiß also wants trips abroad to become easier again.

(Photo: dpa)

Since midnight on Sunday, holidays in Mallorca have been possible again without quarantine and mandatory testing after returning. Two weeks before the start of the Easter holidays in most federal states, the favorite island of the Germans as well as the other Balearic Islands (including Menorca, Ibiza, Formentera) as well as parts of mainland Spain, Portugal and Denmark are no longer a corona risk area.

The largest tour operator Tui has already announced that it will reopen the first hotels on Mallorca next weekend. The hotels in Germany, on the other hand, are closed at least until March 28th. How things will continue will not be decided until March 22nd by the federal and state governments.

Tests instead of quarantine

Bareiß welcomed the lifting of the travel restrictions for the holiday areas abroad, in which the number of infections per 100,000 inhabitants fell below 50 in the last seven days. "I am glad that a gradual opening in Europe seems possible again," said the Parliamentary State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Many travelers would associate Mallorca with the desire and longing for a carefree holiday. "I am convinced that we can expand the possibility of traveling even more by carrying out more tests and as a result of increasing vaccination numbers."

Bareiß showed sympathy for the tour operator's demand to completely lift the quarantine obligation for returnees from abroad and instead to rely on increased tests. "This is a step in the right direction," he said. Returnees from corona risk areas currently have to be in quarantine for ten days, but you can get rid of this with a negative test after five days.