Europe reopens borders to save tourist season

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By: Dominique Baillard Follow

This Monday, June 15, in Europe has a scent of freedom and vacation. With the return to free movement in the Schengen area decided by fifteen of its member states. A reopening of borders crucial for the tourism sector.

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The great transhumance of summer vacations is a sacred ritual for Europeans, and it is a blessed moment for the tourism industry that should not be missed since it is THE time of peak attendance , with around 100 million visitors in July and August. Some 85% of them are Europeans, which is why the return to free movement within the Schengen area is imperative to save the season. For the record, the Schengen area which can be crossed without internal border controls is made up of 22 member countries of the European Union plus Switzerland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland; 27 million employees work in tourism in Europe, and today one job in 2 is threatened with disappearance because of this pandemic and the confinement imposed in all Europe, except for Sweden. Tourism generates on average 10% of European GDP.

Will the return to free movement suffice to resuscitate this stricken industry?

It is indeed an essential step. Both for a country like France, the leading tourist destination in the world, and for Greece, which is one of the most tourist-dependent European economies since this activity generates 20% of its GDP. But for this reopening to be a success, host countries must also take all possible precautionary measures to reassure their population and their visitors. For the moment, the latter are still very cautious, timid in their desire for holidays. The hotel occupancy rate is less than 20% in Europe, while in China it hovers around 45% and in the United States around 35%. Cities are the most affected by this disaffection. In Paris, where all the hotels are usually fully booked for the summer at this time of the year, the occupancy rate is only 25% at the moment. Partly because the spread of the coronavirus seems more likely in urban areas, Paris has for a long time been classified as a red zone. Partly because the wealthy clientele, mainly American, Chinese or Russian, who is the most profitable, is for the moment persona non grata. It will only be from July 1 that the Schengen area will consider the lifting of entry bans on third countries. Greece, anxious to accelerate the movement, is now opening its borders to Australians, New Zealanders, Chinese, Japanese, and Israelis, and to its neighbors in the Balkans.

The opening of borders is generalized from this Monday in Europe but it remains of variable geometry

Greece, for example, which lives a lot from British and German tourism, does not yet accept the subjects of its majesty, because the United Kingdom is one of the European countries most affected by Covid-19. She could change her mind by the end of the month. Hungary currently only accepts visits from neighbors. Ditto for Norway and Denmark. Spain is taking its time, it will accept visitors to the Schengen area from next Sunday, except the Portuguese neighbors, already admitted. But Madrid consents to an exception to this calendar as a full-scale test: 10,000 Germans are expected from this Monday in the Balearic Islands. On the other hand, Malta, the small island that lives a lot from tourism, will keep its doors closed until July 1.

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• European Union
• Tourism
• Coronavirus