Restart travel industry: European corridors

The latest National Security Council meeting made it clear that a lot of ambiguity remains. Nevertheless, a slight easing of lockdown restrictions now seems to be in the cards for the first half of May. Businesses, schools and shops are busily preparing for a cautious reopening.

It has already been determined that this phased reopening will take place under strict conditions. Indeed, the daily statistics of the crisis centre are still the chief indicator and they’ve been showing a favourable evolution. In short, the signs are encouraging.

One bright spot

For the time being a general travel ban remains in force but a few possible relaxations were nevertheless announced. Domestic day trips and foreign travel will probably be allowed as of 8 of June at the earliest.

Complex issue

The start-up of the travel industry is a complex issue. Many parties are involved ranging from government authorities and tour operators to airlines. For instance, air travel between the Netherlands and Spain was resumed on 17 April. The strict travel ban was officially lifted even though strict corona measures still apply in both countries. Moreover, there are hardly any airlines offering flights between both countries. So clearly this will take much more than a simple easing of travel restrictions.

European corridors

The most viable scenario right now involves the creation of safe corridors. Earlier this week the Croatian minister of tourism, Gari Cappelli, proposed a plan to his European colleagues to conclude bilateral agreements between countries that have the coronavirus well under control. The Czech Republic is one of the countries that would like to open up a tourist corridor with Slovakia and Croatia. Austria is also thinking about a corridor with Germany. The corridors would be subject to strict social distancing rules and there would be extensive testing. The question is whether Belgium with its relatively high mortality rate would get a seat at the table to help shape these plans. For now we can assume that the number of new cases will be a deciding factor in combination with a country’s ability to keep the virus under control. So there’s hope for us as well!