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German Health Minister urges caution as tourism slowly reopens

Health Minister Jens Spahn called on people in Germany to exercise restraint when traveling because coronavirus numbers remain high - although they have been falling.

Published: 10 May 2021 15:03 CEST
German Health Minister urges caution as tourism slowly reopens
Spahn speaking in Berlin on Monday. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Kay Nietfeld

“The feeling is better than the situation at the moment,” Spahn said in Berlin on Monday.

His comments come as more states are announcing plans to reopen tourism, outdoor dining and cultural life. Bavaria will open hotels and tourist infrastructure on May 21st in areas with low incidence rates.

Furthermore, a few states such as Meckenburg-Western Pomerania and Schleswig-Holstein have already begun allowing tourists to visit, with restrictions.

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Yet travellers need to keep in mind that it’s not only the destination that counts, but also the journey, said Spahn, pointing out that it’s also possible to pick up the virus en route.

Spahn also warned that steps to loosen restrictions must be taken carefully, for example by only reopening public life in small districts with lower infection rates rather than entire regions or states at a time.

“Also for self-protection of the regions, it makes a lot of sense not to endanger it right at the beginning by too much mobility.” 

On Monday, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) reported 6,922 Covid infections within the last 24 hours and 54 deaths. A week ago, the RKI reported 9,160 cases.

The numbers are usually lower on Monday due to delays in reporting and testing over the weekend.

According to the RKI, the number of new infections per 100,000 residents reported within seven days (the 7-day incidence) was 119.1 nationwide on Monday morning – a massive decrease from the previous week when it was 146.9.

The incidence has been declining relatively steadily for about two weeks.

‘Summer can be quite good’

Yet top virologist Christian Drosten from Berlin’s Charite hospital had a more hopeful note about the coming summer months.

“I think that towards June we will see effects for the first time that can be attributed to vaccination,” the director of virology at the Charité University Hospital told ZDF on Sunday evening: “Summer can be quite good in Germany.”

Especially outdoors, it’s likely that many aspects of public life will be allowed again, whether grilling with friends or eating in the patios of restaurants.

He also thought it was likely tourism would reopen throughout the entire country over the course of summer.

READ ALSO: When (and how) will Germany relax Covid-19 restrictions?

As the year goes on, herd immunity – either through vaccinated people or those who have already recovered from the virus – will continue improve the overall situation, Drosten added.

“The disease will not be gone in the autumn,” as un-vaccinated people will continue to catch the virus and get sick, Drosten said. 

But uncontrolled spread is unlikely to continue as it did in the late months of 2020, when Germany continued to tighten its lockdown measures, which have now been in place in various forms since November.

Member comments

  1. I’m always surprised at what they consider “high” numbers. It’s like 1 in 1000 per week. That doesn’t seem high at all.

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TRAVEL NEWS

Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Almost 800,000 fewer UK holidaymakers have visited Spain in 2023 when compared to 2019. What’s behind this big drop?

Published: 23 August 2023 11:36 CEST
Updated: 26 August 2023 18:32 CEST
Why are fewer British tourists visiting Spain this year?

Spain welcomed 12.2 million UK tourists between January and July 2023, 6 percent less when compared to the same period in 2019, according to data released on Monday by Spanish tourism association Turespaña.

This represents a decrease of 793,260 British holidaymakers for Spain so far this year.

Conversely, the number of Italian (+8 percent), Irish (+15.3 percent), Portuguese (+24.8 percent), Dutch (+4 percent) and French tourists (+5 percent) visiting España in 2023 are all above the rates in 2019, the last pre-pandemic year. 

German holidaymakers are together with their British counterparts the two main nationalities showing less interest in coming to Spanish shores.

Britons still represent the biggest tourist group that comes to Spain, but it’s undergoing a slump, with another recent study by Caixabank Research suggesting numbers fell particularly in June 2023 (-12.5 percent of the usual rate). 

READ ALSO: Spain fully booked for summer despite most expensive holiday prices ever

So are some Britons falling out of love with Spain? Are there clear reasons why a holiday on the Spanish coast is on fewer British holiday itineraries?

According to Caixabank Research’s report, the main reasons are “the poor macroeconomic performance of the United Kingdom, the sharp rise in rates and the weakness of the pound”.

This is evidenced in the results of a survey by British market research company Savanta, which found that one in six Britons are not going on a summer holiday this year due to the UK’s cost-of-living crisis.

Practically everything, everywhere has become more expensive, and that includes holidays in Spain: hotel stays are up 44 percent, eating out is 13 percent pricier, and flights are 40 percent more on average. 

READ ALSO: How much more expensive is it to holiday in Spain this summer?

Caixabank stressed that another reason for the drop in British holidaymakers heading to Spain is that those who can afford a holiday abroad are choosing “more competitive markets” such as Turkey, Greece and Portugal. 

And there’s no doubt that the insufferably hot summer that Spain is having, with four heatwaves so far, has also dissuaded many holidaymakers from Blighty from overcooking in the Spanish sun. 

With headlines such as “This area of Spain could become too hot for tourists” or “tourists say it’s too hot to see any sights” featuring in the UK press, budding British holidaymakers are all too aware of the suffocating weather conditions Spain and other Mediterranean countries are enduring. 

Other UK outlets have urged travellers to try out the cooler Spanish north rather than the usual piping hot Costa Blanca and Costa del Sol destinations.

Another UK poll by InsureandGo found that 71 percent of the 2,000+ British respondents thought that parts of Europe such as Spain, Greece and Turkey will be too hot to visit over summer by 2027.

There’s further concern that the introduction in 2024 of the new (and delayed) ETIAS visa for non-EU visitors, which of course now also applies to UK nationals, could further compel British tourists to choose countries to holiday in rather than Spain.

READ MORE: Will British tourists need to pay for a visa waiver to enter Spain?

However, a drop in the number of British holidaymakers may not be all that bad for Spain, even though they did spend over €17 billion on their Spanish vacations in 2022. 

Towns, cities and islands across the country have been grappling with the problem of overtourism and the consequences it has on everything from quality of life for locals to rent prices. 

READ ALSO: ‘Beach closed’ – Fake signs put up in Spain’s Mallorca to dissuade tourists

The overcrowded nature of Spain’s beaches and most beautiful holiday hotspots appears to be one of the reasons why Germans are visiting Spain in far fewer numbers. A recent report in the country’s most read magazine Stern asked “if the dream is over” in their beloved Mallorca.

Spanish authorities are also seeking to overhaul the cheaper holiday package-driven model that dominates many resorts, which includes moving away from the boozy antics of young British and other European revellers.

Fewer tourists who spend more are what Spain is theoretically now looking for, and the rise in American, Japanese and European tourists other than Brits signify less of a dependence on the British market, one which tends to maintain the country’s tourism status quo for better or for worse.

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