Can we travel carefree again in summer 2021?
The boss of the tour operator Tui says: “Yes!” Is he leaning too far out of the window with his holiday promise?
Hanover - While the third corona wave is spreading in Germany and the federal government is trying by all means to put a stop to the controversial Easter flights to Mallorca, Tui CEO Fritz Joussen is making a daring promise.
He says: "Travel in Europe will be possible in the summer of 2021."
Like the rest of the German tour operators, Joussen hopes that the situation in Germany and Europe will soon ease and that a wave of travel for the summer season will be possible.
People in Germany are also pushing for a break from the corona madness: The demand for the 2021 summer season is encouraging, said Tui boss Joussen on Thursday at the digital general meeting.
He rejected the criticism of the Easter flights to Mallorca as unfounded.
Tui: "Travel in summer 2021 possible" - compulsory test and vaccination certificate required?
According to Tui's taste, many more Germans will get on the plane during the summer holidays.
Rapid tests, possibly mandatory testing and, above all, a corona vaccination certificate should make this possible.
According to the head of the EU Council, the European states are just getting closer in their ideas about the vaccination pass.
“A European vaccination certificate can help restore freedom of travel.
There's no doubt about that, ”said Joussen.
Tui is already in close coordination with Spain, Greece and Cyprus for the summer season.
Other Mediterranean countries would soon follow.
The prerequisite for this is clear: Germany needs to make progress in vaccinating, after all, older people are currently being vaccinated - and they are not the main target group when it comes to vacation trips.
Tui will have to travel in the summer of 2021: The sales figures are terrifying
The TUI CEO is convinced of a trend reversal in the summer - in view of the dramatic numbers that Germany's tourism industry has booked, he has no other choice: According to the German Travel Association (DRV), Corona struck tour operators and agencies with a decline in sales in 2020 alone 80 percent to book.
The figures presented by the industry giant Tui at its annual general meeting fit in with the picture drawn by the DRV: At the beginning of the corona crisis in March 2020, business practically came to a complete standstill.
In the first Corona year, around 2.5 million people were taken on vacation.
That is just ten percent compared to the years before.
So far this year there are 2.8 million guests in the Tui books for summer.
“Customers want to travel,” says Joussen.
That gives you courage.