Travel warning: Tourism demands state aid
business
Salzburg’s tourism companies are facing a second difficult winter season. Because the travel warning from Germany for Austria has been in force since Sunday and it is feared that other European countries will follow suit. The first bookings are already being canceled, tourism professionals are demanding aid funds and short-time working rules.
Before the CoV pandemic, Obertauern (Pongau) recorded over a million overnight stays in winter. More than half of the guests came from Germany, the current travel warning is now hitting the companies hard. The guests are unsettled, say Walter Veit, Vice President of the hotelier association. “We have a few, but unfortunately we get answers from politics.”
Hope for an exception for unvaccinated children under twelve
The most important question right now is whether there WILL be an exception for unvaccinated children under the age of twelve. Because of the German travel warning Wann & SIE Nach Am Stand in quarantine for ten days when entering Germany. The industry will definitely avoid that. “If children are currently dying in with a PCR test, we will test them again before they leave,” said Veit. The adults would have to be vaccinated anyway, you should also keep the distances and guests outside their table wear mouth and nose protection.
Government aid to keep staff in the industry
Veit said the employees would not survive a second season without employment. Specifically, the hoteliers are demanding a short-time working arrangement with employees being paid up to one hundred percent by the Public Employment Service (AMS). “We also need financial support because if we are only allowed to have a few guests and we are not busy, we want to lose the people working in the industry,” said the vice president of the hotelier association.
Possible drop in prices for guest rooms?
In addition, the companies should also be helped, demanded industry representatives. Sales substitution and the reduction in VAT to five percent by the end of the winter season are important topics, as is Albert Ebner, head of the tourism division in the Salzburg Chamber of Commerce. In view of the current wave of cancellations and the associated large number of free rooms in the main season, a tough price war. “The prices have fallen and there are many rooms available between Christmas and New Year’s Eve and that has an impact on the prices. This is the next spiral that hits us here, ”Ebner.
Salzburg’s tourism companies are facing a tough season, but a tough season is still better than no season at all.
