European holidaymakers can be optimistic that a summer getaway is still possible despite the coronavirus pandemic, the European Commission’s president has said.
A week after telling jet-setters hoping for a European holiday to not make any plans this summer, Ursula von der Leyen has now suggested that holidays could be possible by finding ‘smart solutions.’
‘I think we are going to find smart solutions to have a summer vacation,’ the German said in an interview with Portuguese news outlet Expresso.
‘Maybe a little different, with other hygiene measures, with a little more social distance, but it is impressive to see that we have found solutions. So I am optimistic about summer holidays.’
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission’s president (pictured in the European parliament) has said holidays in Europe could be possible by finding ‘smart solutions’
Von der Leyen was responding to a question about whether Europeans would at least be able to holiday in the country where they live. However, she did not explicitly state in her comments whether she was talking about holidays abroad or domestically.
For many countries in Southern Europe, the prospect of no income from tourism is particularly dire, and such countries will be eager to find ways to accommodate visitors as soon as possible.
Von der Leyen said it was ‘good’ that countries are beginning to lift ‘restrictive measures’ but warned that governments should do so ‘with care, step by step and always with vigilance.’
Her comments will provide some optimism for the many people who have been forced to cancel their holiday plans due to the global coronavirus crisis.
While travels to countries further abroad are still unlikely with flight restrictions in place, a holiday closer to home could provide people with that much-needed escape after months in lockdown.
‘It is difficult to predict what the next months will be like, but what I see is that we are beginning to learn to live with the virus’, said von der Leyen, who added that she was ‘impressed’ with solutions that are being found by sectors to cope with the crisis.
‘For example, I am impressed to see how innovative the economy is, in the way production has changed,’ she said. ‘Workers work in shifts, with smaller groups, with social distance, with new hygiene measures.’
Such measures, she hopes, can also be used to reopen the tourism sector that so many countries in Europe benefit from.
Her comments came after the European Commission published a series of guidelines to the 27 EU countries on how to improve coordination when it comes to lifting the measures in place to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
One of the measures in these guidelines is for governments to ensure that hospitals, and particularly intensive care units, have the capacity to treat patients with Covid-19 and also other diseases.
European countries, particularly those in the south like Spain, produce a lot of income through tourism. Tourist hot spots face a dire summer economically without income from tourism. Pictured: A beach in Spain lies empty as tourism is restricted because of the coronavirus crisis
Von der Leyen’s comments are more optimistic than those she gave last week in an interview with German newspaper Bild, in which she said ‘I’d advise everyone to wait before making holiday plans.
‘At the moment, no one can make reliable forecasts for July and August. We will need to learn to live with this virus for many months, probably until next year.’
These comments came after France warned European countries to keep their borders closed until September, while saying that French borders would have strict controls imposed on them until October 30.
Meanwhile, French president Emmanuel Macron has called for external borders with the passport-free Schengen zone, of which Britain is not a part, to remain closed until September.
For British people, holidays outside the country will be more unlikely. While tourists in mainland Europe can travel more easily to other countries, Britons rely heavily on airlines.
Last month, budget airline easyJet grounded all of its flights indefinitely, while British Airways stopped its flights from Gatwick Airport on April 1.
Airlines that fly tourists all across Europe have grounded flights and furloughed staff, while borders between European countries remain closed or heavily restricted
BA later furloughed 36,000 of its employees on a modified version of the government’s job retention scheme.
Luton-based carrier easyJet confirmed it will get a £600million loan from the government’s coronavirus fund, and is borrowing an additional £400million from creditors.
The decision sparked a row with founder Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou who had previously urged directors to scrap a £4.5billion order with Airbus for more than 100 new planes.
Meanwhile, Jet2 has cancelled all flights and holidays until mid-June because restrictions put in place due to the coronavirus pandemic show no sign of easing.
The travel firm, which is Britain’s second-biggest holiday company and owned by Dart Group, said in a statement that its holidays and flights would not now restart until June 17.
Since April 4, Britons have been warned by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) against all non-essential global travel abroad ‘indefinitely’.
According to the latest figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, European countries in the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA) and the UK have seen a combined total of 947,693 confirmed cases on the coronavirus, with 164,656 total deaths.