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| "This crisis is very dramatic. We should learn from our mistakes and address the environmental and health challenges of this new century" — Karima Delli, Green MEP |
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| "This crisis is very dramatic. We should learn from our mistakes and address the environmental and health challenges of this new century, to be able to provide citizens with attractive ways of traveling while preserving the planet," said Delli. |
Europe’s
canceled summer holiday
The coronavirus pandemic looms over one of the
Continent’s most vital economic sectors.
By PAOLA
TAMMA 4/27/20, 6:15 PM CET Updated 4/28/20, 11:42 AM CET
Dilemmas
over summer holidays may sound like a very first-world problem, but for Europe
this year, it’s now become an existential question.
Europe's
tourism sector employs 22.6 million people, equivalent to 11.2 percent of total
EU employment, and accounts for 9.5 percent of the bloc’s economy, according to
the World Travel and Tourism Council. For Spain and Italy, the two countries
worst-hit by the coronavirus pandemic in the EU, tourism's contribution to the
economy is even higher, at 14 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
The
lockdowns and bans which have frozen inbound travel to Europe as well as
intra-EU movement are hammering the tourism sector. The European Commission
estimates the pandemic will halve the revenues of hotels and restaurants;
travel agencies will lose up to 70 percent of their earnings, while cruise
firms and airlines will lose up to 90 percent. Up to 50 million jobs are expected
to be lost worldwide, 7 million of them in Europe.
The main
problem is that no one knows when borders will reopen. The obvious danger of
allowing a rush to the beaches for the summer tourist season is that it could
suddenly rekindle infections. It was, after all, winter vacations that helped
stoke the spread of the disease in the first place.
In Spain,
Labor Minister Yolanda Díaz raised the hackles of the tourist sector by saying
that leisure and cultural activities won't be able to restart until the end of
the year. In Germany, Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has warned that it would not
be "responsible" to have a "normal vacation season this
summer."
“People
have got to feel confident about traveling before they start traveling to
Europe” — Tom Jenkins, chief executive of the European Tourism Association
Given this
pervading uncertainty about travel abroad, there's a lot of talk that
staycations may be the most practical Plan B.
“We will
develop domestic tourism. There are lots of places to discover. And why?
Because some areas are more contaminated than others. You have to say it the
way it is. They won’t reopen at the same speed as others,” France's Thierry
Breton, who is EU commissioner for the Internal Market, told France-TV.
Italy’s
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said his tourism plans will be to tell Italians
to “go on vacation in Italy,” local media reported. But for the moment, and
even after May 4 when Italy will ease some restrictions, Italians aren’t even
allowed to cross regional borders. France is reportedly considering a similar
approach, limiting movement between regions — the government will announce the
country's exit plan on April 28.
While
holidaying at home makes sense in wealthier countries with larger populations,
the smaller countries are less convinced. Greece is considering making entry
subject to a "health passport" that should indicate that travelers
are either virus-free or no longer infectious, to allow for a shorter summer
season from July onward. Portugal is also pinning its hopes on some
international visitors. Austria is taking a bilateral approach: It will allow
in tourists “if countries manage the situation well, like Germany,” said
Tourism Minister Elisabeth Köstinger.
At a
meeting on Monday, EU tourism ministers stressed the need for joined-up policy
on matters such as refunds for package tours and liquidity for tour operators.
They also discussed the potential for "tourist corridors" between
member countries, involving oversight by epidemiologists.
'Smart solutions'
Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen initially advised against booking summer
holidays, before saying that “smart solutions” would enable summer vacations,
but gave little detail.
The
Commission promised “more detailed guidance" on transport and holiday
planning "as swiftly as the health situation allows it" in its exit
roadmap in mid-April.
These
guidelines, for which there isn’t yet a date, will aim to ensure that internal
border controls are lifted “in a coordinated manner, once the border regions’
epidemiological situation converges sufficiently and social distancing rules
are widely and responsibly applied,” an EU official said.
Restrictions
should first be lifted between areas with comparable contagion rates, as
monitored by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. Restoring
mobility in the free-movement Schengen area, made up of 26 European countries,
should be the priority and only subsequently could the current ban on extra-EU
inbound travel be lifted, the EU official said.
But even
once this happens, it’s uncertain whether tourism will resume quickly: “There
has to be complete confidence in all origin markets for tourism to recover,”
said Tom Jenkins, chief executive of the European Tourism Association.
“People
have got to feel confident about traveling before they start traveling to
Europe,” Jenkins said. “And at the moment they're not confident about leaving
their front door.”
For now,
just as they unilaterally and chaotically adopted travel restrictions, EU
countries are lifting them in a piecemeal fashion.
Socially
distanced summer
Even
assuming Europeans will be allowed to travel within their country or across
borders, summer vacations won’t look anything like we know them.
The need to
maintain social distance to keep contagion rates from spiking and forcing a
second wave of lockdowns means that restaurants, beaches and concert halls will
work at a fraction of their capacity.
The Belgian
seaside town of Ostend is studying how to allow access to the beach, possibly
by introducing hourly passes.
In Italy's
southern region of Puglia, which in 2019 welcomed 4.2 million tourists,
including 1.2 million foreigners, an epidemiologist is advising the local
government on how to allow locals and tourists to enjoy the region’s
crystal-blue sea without turning it into a contagion hot spot.
"It's
complicated. In Italy, socializing has such a strong, meaningful role,"
said Pier Luigi Lopalco, a professor of hygiene at the University of Pisa.
"Social
distancing is the most efficient measure to decrease the virus' circulation.
This means that obviously we will not be able to have crowded beaches like last
summer," he said. Similarly, restaurants, cinemas and theatres will be
allowed to operate along the same principle of keeping a safe distance from
others.
He hopes
that people will use the chance to visit areas off the beaten track: "We
have a paradox of having very crowded beaches and then we have beautiful rural
areas that remain empty during the summer. Let's try to increase opportunities,
to distribute people throughout the territory."
At the same
time, to avoid importing new cases in a region which has so far managed to
contain the contagion, incoming tourists should be tested before traveling to
Puglia, "in their own interest and in the interest of the people they will
visit," Lopalco said.
Rethinking
mass tourism
Tourism
will be at the center of Europe’s recovery plan, according to Breton, who
pledged to "keep Europe as the first destination in the world for tourism
but also develop a new gold standard in terms of innovative, responsible and
sustainable tourism."
He’d like
to earmark a fifth of the bloc’s recovery money, which he puts at 10 percent of
Europe’s gross domestic product, for the sector. "The tourism ecosystem
... which includes travel agencies, but also restaurants, airlines and cruises
... must be by far the one that should benefit in the greatest number,
certainly more than 20 percent," he told the European Parliament.
Of Europe’s
almost 3 million tourism businesses, 90 percent are small companies, often with
a handful of employees and relying on seasonal workers.
"This crisis is very dramatic. We should learn
from our mistakes and address the environmental and health challenges of this
new century" — Karima Delli, Green MEP
"A
significant part of the jobs are temporary, both the social and economic
situation is very worrying. That is why swift and massive support is needed in
the sector," said Karima Delli, chair of the transport and tourism
Committee and an MEP for the Greens.
Many
governments are considering bailing out airlines, whose earnings have dried up
as an effect of the lockdowns. For those arguing there’s no tourism without
planes, it’s a wise choice.
"There
will be fewer routes that will connect north to south Europe for holidays, and
therefore tourism will suffer also from the scarcity of connections," said
Luca Patanè, president of Confturismo, the Italian tourism lobby and president
of Blue Panorama Airlines, an Italian carrier. He thinks recovery should start
from airlines.
"Planes
cannot travel with a third of passengers, otherwise they would cost three or
four times more tickets, and therefore the type of tourism we have seen in
Europe so far would not be sustainable," he said.
But the
prospect of being grounded, while a bitter blow for many, is leading others to
question our model of mass tourism.
"This crisis is very dramatic. We should learn
from our mistakes and address the environmental and health challenges of this
new century, to be able to provide citizens with attractive ways of traveling
while preserving the planet," said Delli.
"We
cannot push the same paradigm; it’s not possible now."
Paul Ames
and Giorgio Leali contributed reporting.
This
article was updated to clarify that France will announce its exit plan on April
28.
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