Final announcement arrives for all travelling from Germany and vice versa

Due to the coronary pandemic, the German government has until September 30th put off warning of the risk of travel to third countries outside the EU. The situation will then be assessed individually for each country.

The general warning for the risk of travel to about 160 countries due to the pandemic, according to the German Foreign Ministry, is due until September 30th. The German government decided on the extension, as a foreign ministry spokeswoman announced, bringing down the hopes of the travel sector at the moment. It hopes a close consultation will be possible with other EU countries as well. It would be good, if there was a common regulation in Europe, the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said.

Since October, individual criteria apply

From October Germany will return to a “differential system”, in which individual travel and security instructions will be provided for each country outside the European Union. Warnings about the risk of travel to countries with risk zones could be lifted if there were, for example, rules for quarantine were said in Berlin.

The foreign ministry spokeswoman also made it clear that given the increase in the number of coronary cases in certain countries, travel warnings may be issued for several EU countries before the end of the month. So for example, the number of new infections is currently rising very rapidly in France. Generally, even in the future, travel restrictions must be expected, she said.

Travel association is unhappy

The German Travel Association (DRV) spoke of a suspected “step in the right direction. Chief DRV, Norbert Fiebig, said however, that for customers and the travel industry it changes very little. It remains the uncertainty, when it will be possible to travel again and when firms and employees will be able to make a living again, Feebig said, considering about three million employees in the German travel sector.

He demanded that only countries and districts, which exceed the limits of the Robert Koch (RKI) Institute, be defined in the future as danger zone and be given risk warning from travel, but not the rest of a country's region. The chairman of the travel association also accused the German government of risking jobs in the export-oriented economy, since hundreds of thousands of people traveling for business reasons cannot go to their clients personally to negotiate contracts.

The world's largest tourism concert, TAI, who has suffered major losses, also demanded that there be not only recommendations in the future according to the specificity of the countries, but according to the regions. “Residence has, for people to have confidence in what they're planning,” said a TAI spokesman.

Even for air traffic, relief of the measures is only a step in the right direction. The Federal Association of German Aviation Industry (BDL), which represents Lufthansa, recommended to the government to replace the rigantine rule planned by land governments and federations after October, with a different strategy of testing.

BDL managing director Matthias von Randoa warned that if the project was implemented, all travelers returning from endangered areas would no longer be tested by October, but would have to enter quarantine, it would bring a new deadlock of international travel.

A warning about the danger of travel is not a ban, but it aims to have a major preventative effect. It also has a positive side for consumers, because it enables vacationers to cancel travel reservations free. The danger warning from travel is issued despite the country's reputations as a danger zone.

On March 17th, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas made an unprecedented move because of the rapid increase in the number of coronary infections: The foreign ministry issued warnings from tourist tours in all 200 countries of the world.

Warning at the risk of trips to Spain, parts of France, Croatia

In June only before the start of the main holiday season, the countries of the European Union, the Schengen area without border controls, as well as Great Britain, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Vatican State were expelled. However, there is currently a travel warning within Europe, for example for Spain, for parts of France and Croatia and the Swiss cantons of Geneva and Canada.

The tourism industry is one of the sectors most affected by the coronary pandemic. DDR fears a wave of bankruptcy. According to an association study by nearly 650 travel agencies, more than 60 per cent see themselves threatened directly by bankruptcy. The tour operators are about half.