Amid the coronavirus pandemic,
Europe is going from one lockdown to the next. Many just want to get away and are pinning their hopes on the summer. Still others plan to stay near home and travel more sustainably.
Travel industry fighting to regain customer trust
Germans desire to travel is great, according to recent surveys, but there is a lot of concern as well. In December, sales of pre-booked package tours for summer 2021 were 68% below the previous year s level. And even for the period around Easter, demand is still subdued, according to travel associations. Things only appear to look up starting in late May. For the summer, booking figures are even slightly better than after the outbreak of the pandemic last spring, Jürgen Schmude, professor of tourism economics at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, told DW.
Airports design strategies to survive the pandemic
Chances are good that this trend will consolidate not just this summer, but also beyond the pandemic. In surveys, one-third of respondents said they wanted to change their travel behavior compared to before the pandemic, says Schmude. Many have discovered travel destinations in Germany that they hadn t even considered before, says Buhl. She hopes that people will gain a new appreciation for travel through COVID-19 also in terms of sustainability. According to Schmude, there is no way to avoid it: The discussion about overtourism, flight shaming and cruises has indeed been pushed to the sidelines by the coronavirus. But it hasn t gone away; it will continue.