Tyskland har øget sine rejse-advarsler kraftigt den seneste tid, så de er ved at omfatte hele Europa – enten de konkrete lande fuldstændig eller risiko-områder som København. Rejsende fra disse områder skal testes og i karantæne i deres hjem. Deutsche Bank skriver, at det svarer til en ny lockdown for hele rejsebranchen og turistindustrien, fordi mange ganske enkelt vil droppe rejser til resten af Europa. De skrappe regler gælder ikke for rejsende fra risikoområder i Tyskland, og dermed er de nye regler en slags national handelshindring.
More travel warnings are almost like a new lockdown for the hospitality industry
During the last few weeks, the German Federal Foreign Office has issued more and more travel warnings for other EU countries on the grounds of rising COVID-19 infection figures.If infections continue to trend upwards or remain high during autumn and winter, the number of travel warnings for EU countries and regions will rise as well during the winter season of 2020/21.
And unless policymakers take measures to mitigate the impact, the tourism industry, in particular travel agents in Germany and hospitality providers abroad, will be faced with a similar situation to a new lockdown in the coming weeks and months.
Quick and uncomplicated access to reliable coronavirus tests might be an option to allow travelling during the pandemic. The test costs should be borne by the travellers themselves. Ultimately, corona-related health risks will have to be weighed against the impact of higher hurdles for travelling and their negative economic consequences.
In some cases, these travel warnings apply to whole countries (currently Spain, the Czech Republic and Luxembourg), in others only to certain regions in given countries (for example large parts of France, the Netherlands or Austria and cities like Copenhagen).
As a rule, the travel warnings are issued because the number of new infections in a country or region exceeds the “corona limit”. According to the Federal Foreign Office, travel warnings may be issued (or re-issued) if the cumulative number of new infections in a country or region rises above 50 per 100,000 inhabitants during the past seven days.
Travellers who return from a (foreign) risk area are obliged to take a coronavirus test and isolate themselves at home until the test result is available and negative. From 1 October, the rules will change.
In place of the mandatory test upon the return from a risk area, travellers will be isolated for at least five days after their arrival. Once the five days are over, the quarantine may be lifted if a test result is negative.
Neither option is really appealing for travellers. By the way, there is no comparable automatic rule for people who return from districts or cities in Germany that exceed the corona limit.
While policymakers have always emphasised that a travel warning is not the same as a travel ban, the difference does not really matter in practice. Many tourists cancel their trip once a travel warning has been issued. Some may indeed be scared by rising infection figures; others will want to avoid the quarantine, even if it may be lifted once a negative test result is available.
