Roam close to home: Europe's tourists play safe in pandemic

In this Friday May 22, 2020 photo, a restaurant a illuminated on a pier in Sellin on the island Ruegen, Germany. Germany's states, which determine their own coronavirus-related restrictions, have begun loosening lockdown rules to allow domestic tourists to return. ( Jens Buettner/dpa via AP)

In this Tuesday, May 26, 2020 photo, Felix Rascher poses for a photo between Volkswagen camper vans he rent to tourists in a yard in Berlin, Germany. Germany's federal states are starting to reopen the touristic hotspots after the lockdown because of the coronavirus crisis and hope that German tourists will come. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

BERLIN (AP) - Many a journey to far-flung corners of Europe starts in a dusty industrial yard in east Berlin, where Felix Rascher carefully tends to his small fleet of Volkswagen camper vans, a favorite among free-spirited travelers the world over.

But this spring, the pandemic threw a wrench in the works of the travel industry, as countries closed their borders and residents hunkered down to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

Hotels, airlines, travel agents, tour operators, restaurants, local guides and car rentals saw income evaporate as lockdowns came into force.

"Our business normally begins in mid-March," Rascher, 37, said. "The Easter rentals collapsed completely, of course."

According to Thierry Breton, the European Union's internal market commissioner, some 27 million jobs across the EU are directly or indirectly linked to tourism, accounting for 12% of employment.

About 3 million businesses, most of them small companies like Rascher's, benefit from Europe's normally wide-open borders, helping make the continent the world's top tourism destination with half of all global arrivals.

The dearth of tourists is particularly painful for some of the countries whose citizens and health care systems have suffered the most during the pandemic.

Spain, which gets 12% of its GDP from tourism, recorded no hotel occupancies in April. Normally crowded travel hot spots such as Rome, Paris, Venice and Barcelona have at times appeared deserted in recent months.

Industry representatives are now pressing European governments to reopen borders in time for the summer vacation season.

Chairs stand with the prescribed safety distance on a beach of G'hren on the island of R'gen, Mecklenburg-Western, Germany, Friday, May 22, 2020. After the shutdown as a coronavirus protection measure in mid-March, the tourism industry in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania is starting again step by step. From May 25, 2020 guests from other federal states will again be allowed to travel to the north-east. (Jens B'ttner/dpa via AP)

Germany, with its 83 million inhabitants and generous annual holiday rules, will be crucial to the recovery of Europe's tourism industry - especially while oversees visitors from China and the United States remain locked out by travel bans.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has indicated that if conditions are right, he would soon like to remove 31 European countries from a travel warning issued in March.

But Maas has also made clear that he doesn't want to repeat the logistical nightmare of repatriating a quarter of a million Germans that were stranded abroad during the first wave of the outbreak in March.

As talks among European officials drag on, some countries are already vying for sun-starved travelers:

• Portugal says travelers arriving by plane won't be quarantined and there will be "minimal health controls" at airports.

• Greece, where 20% of the economy is based on tourism, says it will only conduct random sample tests on travelers. Consumer tax cuts to lower the price of ferry, plane, bus tickets and coffee will be offered during the tourist season.

• Cyprus is pledging to cover all costs for anyone testing positive for the coronavirus while on holiday in the east Mediterranean island nation. The country expects to lose as much as 70% of 2.6-billion euros in tourism-generated revenue this year.

• The mayor of Vienna will switch on the Austrian capital's giant Ferris wheel Friday to symbolize the restart of the tourism industry. Some resorts in Austria have already launched advertising campaigns in Germany with the option of short-notice cancellations to reassure those anxious about booking trips.

Still, it's unclear if travelers will take the bait.

Many Germans have set their sights on vacation destinations closer to home due to concerns about a possible second wave of viral infections.

In this Saturday, May 16, 2020 photo, tourists with suitcases walk across the island of Spiekeroog, Germany. Germany's states, which determine their own coronavirus-related restrictions, have begun loosening lockdown rules to allow domestic tourists to return. (Sina Schuldt/dpa via AP)

In a poll published Friday by German public broadcaster ZDF, 31% of respondents said they planned to spend their vacations in Germany, while 14% said they wanted to go abroad this year. But 37% said they planned no vacation, while 18% said they didn't yet know what they would do this summer.

The representative telephone survey of 1,377 respondents was conducted between May 26-28 and had a margin of error of up to 3 percentage points.

A camper enjoys the warm sunny weather in a pool at the Kerstgenshof camping park in Sonsbeck, Germany, Thursday, May 28, 2020. Germany's states, which determine their own coronavirus-related restrictions, have begun loosening lockdown rules to allow domestic tourists to return. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

At a campsite in Sonsbeck, near the Dutch border, Iris Borchert said she and her husband had planned to vacation in Croatia before the pandemic began.

"We've canceled that for now," she said. "As far as I know, Croatia is open again, but we said we want to wait and see what happens first."

This week, officials along Germany's chilly Baltic Coast rubbed their hands as the first gaggle of domestic tourists arrived for a taste of sea air.

"Some landlords are telling me they've never seen such demand as now, because it's difficult to book anything abroad," said Rene Roloff, the mayor of Prerow. The 130-year-old seaside resort with its 1,500 inhabitants depends almost entirely on tourism and normally has 1.2 million overnight stays each year.

Roloff said the surrounding county's low number of COVID-19 cases was a selling point, adding that all businesses have been primed to enforce distancing rules.

"If people stick to them, then I think the risk of anything happen is very low here," he said. Hotels in the region have had the number of rooms they can rent out capped at 60% of normal capacity.

Lothar Jaeschke, head of tourism in Prerow, went further: "We expect that overall, if developments stay this way, it's going to be a good season."

Tourists walk on the dike in front of the Pilsum lighthouse in the municipality of Krummhoern, Germany, Thursday, may 28, 2020. The lighthouse with its red-yellow striped painting served as a backdrop for several feature films. Since 2004 it is also used for civil weddings. (Hauke-Christian Dittrich/dpa via AP)

Many hotels in northern Germany are already booked up for the Pentecost holiday weekend. The mayor of Cuxhaven, a popular seaside resort two hours' drive from Hamburg, is even pleading with day trippers to stay away and give space to locals and long-term guests.

Rascher said bookings for his VW camper vans are slowly beginning to pick up, too.

His clients, ranging from students to retirees and families with young children, normally have a bit of adventure in mind when they pick up one of the red or white vans, some of which have more than 500,000 kilometers (300,000 miles) on the odometer.

But with the risk of a second coronavirus wave and sudden lockdowns looming, Rascher said travelers might want to limit their horizons.

"When we get a request now, I always ask the guests to consider whether they'd be happy with a tour of Germany," said Rascher. "I really see it as a chance to get to know the country better."

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Sopke reported from Prerow, Germany. Daniel Niemann in Sonsbeck, Germany, and Nicholas Paphitis in Athens contributed to this report.