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Weimar / Detmold (dpa) - Hardly any schoolchildren romped through the aisles, and few other guests stayed in the Thuringian youth hostels in 2020: The Corona crisis and the associated restrictions on school trips and in tourism in general have also hit this area hard.
While the Thuringia regional association of the German Youth Hostel Association counted around 250,460 overnight stays in 2019, it was just around 84,830 last year.
"We very much hope that we can open again as soon as possible and be ready for our guests again," said the managing director of the German Youth Hostel Association of Thuringia, Peter Kraft.
5 of the 17 houses in Thuringia were not open last year: There was not enough time to develop suitable hygiene concepts for them before the measures were tightened and openings were no longer possible.
However, according to Kraft, there are now hygiene concepts for opening all houses.
These could be adjusted and, if necessary, tightened.
“We don't want to complain, we have to shape the future, and that includes not being dependent on state aid,” said Kraft.
The youth hostels in Thuringia offer 2200 beds.
The association has 120 employees in the Free State.
For them, too, short-time work has so far been the method of choice, said Kraft.
A house in Schwarzburg was finally closed in 2020 as a result of the pandemic.
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The German Youth Hostel Association (DJH) published nationwide figures on the Corona year 2020 on Thursday: Only 3.6 million overnight stays were counted at the 438 locations (previous year: 9.8).
Above all, schoolchildren and other youth groups, who normally form the most important guest segment, hardly came.
The public welfare-oriented idea of youth hostels received a lot of support from the population during the crisis, said DJH Vice Managing Director Oliver Peters.
This was shown in stable membership numbers and good demand from families over the summer.
Last year, despite Corona, the association recorded fewer exits of its almost 2.4 million members than it has for ten years.
In Thuringia, the number of members remained unchanged at around 32,000, said Kraft.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210225-99-590280 / 2