08/15/2020 - 11:46
- Clarín.com
- travels
All German tourism operators canceled their organized trips to the Balearic Islands from this Saturday, August 15 , after the German Government's warning about the rebound in coronavirus cases in Spain, in another blow to that vital Spanish industry.
The decision comes at a time when Europe is entering an increasingly evident second wave of coronavirus infections , from which Germany does not escape either, which has once again recorded daily figures of the disease that it had not seen since last May.
This second wave has led numerous governments to reimpose restrictions , including travel restrictions , right in the middle of the summer holidays in Europe, when countries that depend on tourism, such as Spain, expected to recover a bit from the economic ravages of the pandemic.
Tourists in a bar in Punta Ballena, on the island of Mallorca, Spain. Photo: AP Photo / Francisco Ubilla
New normal
In a statement, the German Tourism Association (DRV) said that the decision to cancel packages to the Balearic Islands was "normal" after the German Government advised against travel to all of Spain except the Canary Islands yesterday due to the increase in cases of Covid-19.
Cancellations will be announced from week to week, in order to analyze the health situation on the islands and act in a proportionate way.
The DRV also pointed out that at that time some 30,000 Germans were spending the summer in the Balearic Islands with organized trips and said it could not estimate how many will try to advance the return home after the decision of the German Executive, reported the EFE news agency.
The German Government included Spain on Friday, except for the Canary Islands, in the list of risk regions to which travel is discouraged, in which there are about 140 countries.
The move comes after Germany had reopened its borders for most European countries in mid-June, after the closure it imposed to initially control the pandemic.
Arrival of the first German tourists at the Hotel Riu Concordia in Palma, in mid-June. Now, German tourists are in retreat from the increase in infections. Photo: EFE / CATI CLADERA
The numbers
The decision was made based on a series of criteria, including the relative number of cases.
From 50 new infections in seven days per 100,000 inhabitants, the Robert Koch Institute, the leading epidemiological center in Germany, calls them risk areas.
Until now, five Spanish autonomous communities were included in this classification: Catalonia, Aragon and Navarra, which were included at the end of July, and Madrid and the Basque Country, since last day 10.
Spain is traditionally the first international destination for Germans. And tourism is its main economic sector, both by percentage of GDP and by employment.
New daily cases in Germany have also risen significantly in recent days, to levels not recorded since May, to stabilize around 1,000, something that Chancellor Angela Merkel's government has described as "worrying" .
The RKI estimates that around a third of those newly infected are imported cases, mostly people returning from vacations abroad. This Saturday, August 15, the RKI reported 1,415 new cases in the last 24 hours.
Germany thus accumulates 222,828 infections and at least 9,231 deaths from the virus, said the RKI.
Telam