FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) – It’s the late winter and early spring annual journeys: factory workers in China heading home for the Lunar New Year; American college students who go on road trips and go to the beach during spring break; Germans and British fleeing the gray sky for a Mediterranean sun at Easter.
All canceled, in case of doubt or under pressure because of the corona virus.
Amid fears of new variants of the virus, new movement restrictions have struck just as people start looking ahead to what is usually a busy time of year to travel.
It means more pain for airlines, hotels, restaurants and tourist destinations that have struggled through 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 have canceled spring break to discourage students from traveling. After Indiana University in Bloomington replaced her usual break with three “ wellness days, ” college student Jacki Sylvester dropped plans to celebrate her 21st birthday in Las Vegas.
Instead, she marks the milestone closer to home, with a day at the casino in French Lick, Indiana, just 50 miles away.
“I was really looking forward to being away from here for a whole week. I wanted to get a drink and have fun – see the casinos and everything – and honestly see another city and just travel a bit, ”she said.
“At least it lets us have a little fun for a day in a condensed version of our original Vegas plans. Like, I can still celebrate. … I’m just forced to do it closer to home. “
At bus and train stations in China, there is no sign of the annual Lunar New Year peak. The government has called on the public to avoid travel following new coronavirus outbreaks. Only five of the 15 security gates at Beijing’s cavernous central station were open; the crowds of travelers who usually camped outside in the vast plaza were absent.
The holiday, which starts on February 12, is usually the world’s greatest human movement as hundreds of millions of Chinese leave the cities to visit their hometowns, tourist spots or travel abroad. For millions of labor migrants, this is usually the only chance to visit their place of birth during the year. This year the authorities promise extra pay if they stay put.
The government says people will make 1.7 billion trips during the holiday, but that’s 40% less than in 2019. Departures from Beijing and Chengdu in the southwest are expected to decrease by 75%, according to travel companies.
Each news cycle seems to have new limitations. US President Joe Biden has re-imposed restrictions on travelers from more than two dozen European countries, South Africa and Brazil, while people leaving the US are now required to pass a negative test before returning.
Canada banned flights to the Caribbean. Israel closed its main international airport. Travel to the European Union is severely restricted, with entry bans and quarantine requirements for returning citizens.
For air travel, “the short-term outlook is certainly bleaker,” said Brian Pearce, chief economist at the International Air Transport Association. Governments have invested $ 200 billion in supporting the industry.
The United Nations World Tourism Organization says the number of international arrivals dropped 74% last year, wiping out $ 1.3 trillion in revenue and putting up to 120 million jobs at risk. A UNWTO expert panel had a mixed outlook for 2021, with 45% expecting a better year, 25% no change and 30% a worse year.
“The overall outlook for a recovery in 2021 appears to have deteriorated,” the organization said.
In Europe, the outlook is clouded by the lagging roll-out of vaccines and the spread of the new variants.
That means that “there is a growing risk of losing another summer tourist season,” said Jack Allen-Reynolds of Capital Economics. “That would put a huge dent in the Greek economy and delay the recovery in Spain and Portugal significantly.”
Travel company TUI offers package holidays in the sun in Greece and Spain, but with generous cancellation provisions to attract prudent customers. Places accessible by car, such as Germany’s North Sea islands and the Alps, benefit to some extent as they provide an opportunity to isolate. The German Holiday Home Association says that the popular locations are already 60% booked for July and August.
Thailand, where about one-tenth of the population depends on tourism for their livelihood, requires a two-week quarantine for foreigners in designated hotels costing about $ 1,000 and more. Until now, only a few dozen people a day choose to visit. The number of tourists in Thailand has fallen to less than 7 million in 2020 and is expected to reach just 10 million this year from 40 million in 2019.
The Indonesian holiday island of Bali has deported dozens of foreigners and has begun to limit foreign arrivals on Jan. 1, as the coronavirus caseload exceeds 1 million.
Gerasimos Bakogiannis, owner of the Portes Palace hotel in Potidaia in Greece’s northern region of Halkidiki, said he won’t even open for Western Easter on April 4, but will wait a month for Greek Orthodox Easter on May 2 – 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 contributed from Beijing and Smith from Indianapolis. Elaine Kurtenbach contributed from Bangkok and Costas Kantouris from Thessaloniki, Greece.