FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – These are the annual journeys of late winter and early spring: factory workers in China on their way to the Moon New Year; American college students who go on road trips and over the spring holidays on the beach go Germans and Brits who flee from the sky for a Mediterranean sun during the Easter.
All of this was canceled, in doubt or under pressure due to the coronavirus.
Amid fears of new variants of the virus, new restrictions on movement hit just as people looked ahead to a busy time of year for travel.
This means more pain for airlines, hotels, restaurants and tourist destinations that have been struggling in the pandemic for more than a year, and a slower recovery for countries where tourism is a big part of the economy.
Colleges in the US interrupted the spring break to discourage students from traveling. After Indiana University in Bloomington replaced its usual break with three ‘wellness days’, student Jacki Sylvester abandoned plans to celebrate her 21st birthday in Las Vegas.
Instead, she would mark the milestone closer to home, with a day at the casino in French Lick, Indiana, just 80 miles away.
“I was really looking forward to getting out of here for a whole week. “I wanted to be able to have a drink and have fun – see the casinos and everything – and honestly see another city and just travel a bit,” she said.
‘It’s at least letting us have some fun for a day in an abridged version of our original Vegas plans. Like, I’m still going to be able to celebrate. … I just need to do it closer to home. ‘
At bus and train stations in China, there is no sign of the annual moon-new-year rush. The government has appealed to the public to avoid travel to new outbreaks of the coronavirus. Only five of the 15 security gates at the large central train station in Beijing were open; the crowds of travelers who usually camped outside on the expansive square were absent.
The holiday, which begins on February 12, is usually the largest single human world in the world, as hundreds of millions of Chinese leave cities to visit their hometowns or tourist visits or travel abroad. For millions of migrant workers, this is usually the only chance to visit their hometowns during the year. This year, authorities promise extra payment if they stay.
According to the government, people will undertake 1.7 billion trips during the holidays, but that is 40% lower than in 2019. According to travel associations, departures from Beijing and Chengdu in the southwest will decrease 75%.
Each news cycle seems to bring new constraints. US President Joe Biden has imposed restrictions on travelers from more than two dozen European countries, South Africa and Brazil, while people leaving the US now have to show a negative test before returning.
Canada has banned flights to the Caribbean. Israel has closed its main international airport. Travel to the European Union is strictly limited, with access bans and quarantine requirements for returning citizens.
For air travel, “the short-term outlook has definitely blurred,” said Brian Pearce, chief economist at the International Air Transport Association. Governments have poured $ 200 billion to promote the industry.
According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, international arrivals fell 74% last year, wiping out $ 1.3 billion in revenue and endangering up to 120 million jobs. A UNWTO expert panel had mixed prospects for 2021, with 45% expecting a better year, 25% no change and 30% a worse year.
“The overall outlook for a rebound in 2021 has apparently deteriorated,” the organization said.
In Europe, the prospects are clouded by the deterioration of vaccines and the spread of the new variants.
That means “there’s a growing risk that another summer tourist season will be lost,” Jack Allen-Reynolds of Capital Economics said. “It will put a big dent in the Greek economy and significantly delay the recovery in Spain and Portugal.”
Travel company TUI offers package holidays in the sun in Greece and Spain, but with broad cancellation terms to attract cautious customers. Places that can be reached by car, such as the North Sea islands in Germany and the Alps, benefit to some extent because they offer the chance to isolate them. The German Holiday Home Association says the popular places have already been booked 60% for July and August.
Thailand, where about a tenth of the population depends on tourism for its existence, needs a two-week quarantine for foreigners at designated hotels that cost about $ 1,000. So far, only a few dozen people a day prefer to visit it. Tourist arrivals have dropped to less than 7 million in Thailand in 2020 and are expected to reach only 10 million this year from 40 million in 2019.
Indonesia’s resort island of Bali has deported dozens of foreigners and on January 1 began restricting foreign arrivals, as its coronavirus load is more than 1 million.
Gerasimos Bakogiannis, owner of the Portes Palace Hotel in Potidaia, north of the Greek Halkidiki region, said he would not open for Western Easter until April 4, but would wait a month on May 2 for the Greek Orthodox Easter – and he hopes the start of a better summer.
“If this year is like last year, tourism will be destroyed,” he said.
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McDonald made a contribution from Beijing and Smith from Indianapolis. Elaine Kurtenbach contributed from Bangkok and Costas Kantouris from Thessaloniki, Greece.