Before flying to Milan with her mother, 7-year-old Marian adjusts the protective mask for her … [+]
In a bid to save a tourism industry collapsing under the weight of COVID19 restrictions, the European Commission today unveiled a phased plan for reopening borders, airports and hotels to allow some amount of leisure travel to resume in time for the summer.
The focus, the EU executive says, will be on reinventing tourism to make it both more safe from a health perspective and more sustainable from an environmental perspective.
“We aim to create safe conditions in every mode of transport, to the extent possible, both for people traveling and transport workers,” said EU transport commissioner Adina Vălean. “As we re-establish connectivity, these guidelines will provide authorities and stakeholders a standard framework. Our priority is to restore mobility as soon as possible, but only with clear provisions for safety and health.”
Tourism is a major sector in the EU, accounting for 10% of its economic output. A collapse of the sector, which depends on a busy summer season each year, would put 10,000 European jobs at risk. Air passenger traffic fell by 90% in April, and the OECD estimates the sector faces a 45 to 70% decline, with losses up to €400 billion.
Borders
Across the EU, normally invisible internal borders between member states are now closed, allowing only essential crossing. The Commission outlined a three-phased approach in which blanket bans should be replaced by targeted measures. Travel restrictions should first be lifted between countries and regions with similar epidemiological situations. That would mean two countries experiencing a similar low caseload and infection rate would establish ‘travel corridors’ between them. Such measures are already in place between some EU countries, including the three Baltic states. The British and French governments are reportedly in talks to establish a travel corridor between them.
However, any such corridors would have to be implemented in a non-discriminatory way or else they would risk violating EU law, the Commission said. EU citizens cannot be banned from entering another EU country based on their passport, but could be restricted based on their country of residence. In other words, Austria could establish a travel corridor with Germany, but it would have to let in any EU citizen residing in Germany, not just Germans.
In this first phase, countries should prioritize business and personal travel such as visiting relatives. In the second phase, all borders would be reopened as normal but travel and tourism can only take place with stringent health precautions in place.
Hotels
Adequate health precautions will have to be taken on planes and trains and in tourism venues like hotels, EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides, said.
“We know how much European citizens are looking forward to summer and to travel. Their huge sacrifices over the past months will make a cautious and gradual reopening possible – for now. But deconfinement and tourism will not be risk free as long as the virus circulates among us. We need to maintain vigilance, physical distancing and rigorous health precautions across the whole tourism and transport ecosystem to prevent further outbreaks as much as possible. We will not allow our efforts to be lost.”
The Commission will shortly be issuing health protocols for hotels to ensure the safety of their guests and employees. They will also start organising a European Tourism Convention, possibly in the Autumn if the situation permits, to develop a new system of tourism for the EU. In the mean time, the EU is making €8 billion in funding available to 100,000 small businesses in the tourism sector to keep them afloat before guests start returning.
Airplanes
On the contentious issue of travel vouchers, the Commission will not bow to pressure from airlines and national governments to suspend EU passenger rights law, which requires airlines to offer the option of a refund for cancelled flights. Airlines say they are facing severe liquidity problems and say they need to keep the cash already on hand by issuing time-limited vouchers to travellers instead of refunds.
The Commission says it cannot suspend the law, and is advising them to make the vouchers more attractive in order to incentivise passengers to choose them, for instance by not time-limiting them.
On the issue of social distancing on planes, the Commission has listened to the concerns of airlines which say it would not be economically viable to operate planes with many empty seats. They will not require or advise such social distancing at EU level, but the guidance would allow national governments to implement such restrictions if they so choose. “Fewer passengers may be allowed on board, for example buses, trains or ferries, to facilitate physical distancing, and passengers who are not from the same household may be seated apart,” the Commission said.
“Where physical distancing is more difficult to ensure, additional safeguards and measures should be put in place, for example, the wearing of face masks”.
The airlines had hoped that the Commission would advise against governments putting in such restrictions, warning that a lack of coordinated policy within the EU will inhibit recovery. Eurocontrol, the EU association of air traffic controllers, has warned that uncoordinated measures will not allow the sector to recover by next year.
Eurocontrol
Several other possible measures to make travel safe are outlined. These include encouraging passengers to check in online, ensuring social distancing at security and luggage checks, requiring transport staff to wear protective equipment, no longer offering food and drinks on board, staggering the entrance of passengers on planes using both the front and rear doors, and cleaning and disinfecting planes regularly.
The Commission has not recommended that boarding planes be restricted only to people who have recently tested negative for COVID19. Commission Vice President Margrethe Vestager said this would “not be effective” in limiting the spread, because a person could contract the virus after taking the test.
The Commission says it will shortly launch a web site with a map advising passengers where and when they can travel, so they can feel secure in making travel decisions.
