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TRAVEL NEWS

Swiss hoteliers out in the cold as Omicron hits winter bookings

Swiss hoteliers voiced fears for the crucial winter season on Tuesday following a wave of booking cancellations linked to the Omicron variant.

A wooden cross outside a Swiss hotel and restaurant in the canton of Vaud
A wooden cross outside a hotel and restaurant in Vaud in a protest against Covid measures in January 2021. Switzerland's December 2021 border rules are again making things difficult. Photo: Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

The HotellerieSuisse industry body said the quarantine restrictions imposed on tourists from countries where the new Covid-19 variant of concern has been detected — particularly visitors from Britain — had led to reservations being scrapped.

“In recent days, the accommodation sector has witnessed a collapse in bookings due to the deteriorating virus situation,” the federation said, stressing the importance of the winter season for the Alpine nation and its hotel sector.

Swiss hotels make a big chunk of their annual turnover from foreigners visiting for the ski season.

And as Christmas approaches, hoteliers have been confronted with “massive cancellations of corporate events and Christmas parties” in recent days said HotellerieSuisse.

Winter sports: Which Swiss ski resorts are already open?

The federation urged politicians not to go for lockdowns and instead maintain support for a sector that has been “hammered” since the start of the pandemic.

It called for uniform measures across the country rather than a patchwork of different decisions by the regional authorities.

The Swiss government is meeting again on Tuesday after tightening travel restrictions over the weekend. As of noon on Tuesday, visitors from 23 countries must go into quarantine on arrival into Switzerland.

UPDATE: What are the current rules for entering Switzerland?

The countries include Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, Egypt, Israel, Japan, the Netherlands, Nigeria and South Africa, as well as Hong Kong.

HotellerieSuisse warned that hotels that cater mainly for British, Dutch and Belgian nationals could be facing 100-percent booking cancellations.

Switzerland is battling a fifth wave of the pandemic, with the numbers of new Covid cases seven times higher than in mid-October.

READ MORE: Switzerland flags new measures, expansion of Covid certificate

The landlocked European nation, population 8.6 million, recorded its one millionth Covid case on Monday.

And Swiss voters turned out in force in Sunday’s referendum to back the law upholding the country’s Covid pass, allowing vaccinated or recovered people entry into restaurants and other indoor spaces.

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TRAVEL NEWS

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

Germany's Deutsche Bahn rail operator and the GDL train drivers' union have reached a deal in a wage dispute that has caused months of crippling strikes in the country, the union said.

German train strike wave to end following new labour agreement

“The German Train Drivers’ Union (GDL) and Deutsche Bahn have reached a wage agreement,” GDL said in a statement.

Further details will be announced in a press conference on Tuesday, the union said. A spokesman for Deutsche Bahn also confirmed that an agreement had been reached.

Train drivers have walked out six times since November, causing disruption for huge numbers of passengers.

The strikes have often lasted for several days and have also caused disruption to freight traffic, with the most recent walkout in mid-March.

In late January, rail traffic was paralysed for five days on the national network in one of the longest strikes in Deutsche Bahn’s history.

READ ALSO: Why are German train drivers launching more strike action?

Europe’s largest economy has faced industrial action for months as workers and management across multiple sectors wrestle over terms amid high inflation and weak business activity.

The strikes have exacerbated an already gloomy economic picture, with the German economy shrinking 0.3 percent across the whole of last year.

What we know about the new offer so far

Through the new agreement, there will be optional reduction of a work week to 36 hours at the start of 2027, 35.5 hours from 2028 and then 35 hours from 2029. For the last three stages, employees must notify their employer themselves if they wish to take advantage of the reduction steps.

However, they can also opt to work the same or more hours – up to 40 hours per week are possible in under the new “optional model”.

“One thing is clear: if you work more, you get more money,” said Deutsche Bahn spokesperson Martin Seiler. Accordingly, employees will receive 2.7 percent more pay for each additional or unchanged working hour.

According to Deutsche Bahn, other parts of the agreement included a pay increase of 420 per month in two stages, a tax and duty-free inflation adjustment bonus of 2,850 and a term of 26 months.

Growing pressure

Last year’s walkouts cost Deutsche Bahn some 200 million, according to estimates by the operator, which overall recorded a net loss for 2023 of 2.35 billion.

Germany has historically been among the countries in Europe where workers went on strike the least.

But since the end of 2022, the country has seen growing labour unrest, while real wages have fallen by four percent since the start of the war in Ukraine.

German airline Lufthansa is also locked in wage disputes with ground staff and cabin crew.

Several strikes have severely disrupted the group’s business in recent weeks and will weigh on first-quarter results, according to the group’s management.

Airport security staff have also staged several walkouts since January.

Some politicians have called for Germany to put in place rules to restrict critical infrastructure like rail transport from industrial action.

But Chancellor Olaf Scholz has rejected the calls, arguing that “the right to strike is written in the constitution… and that is a democratic right for which unions and workers have fought”.

The strikes have piled growing pressure on the coalition government between Scholz’s Social Democrats, the Greens and the pro-business FDP, which has scored dismally in recent opinion polls.

The far-right AfD has been enjoying a boost in popularity amid the unrest with elections in three key former East German states due to take place later this year.

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