German tourists are already thinking of the Canary Islands for Easter

The president of the German Federation of Tourism Associations (DRV), Norbert Fiebig, said in an interview published in the German newspaper "Tagesspiegel" yesterday (Monday), that he is optimistic regarding German bookings for Easter and summer holidays in Spain.

Fiebig said he hopes that tourists from Germany, the second largest source market for Spain, will be able to return to Mallorca this summer thanks to the success of the vaccination campaign, and that even this Easter they will be travel to the Canary Islands, although "with quarantine on the way back."

Along the same lines, although somewhat more cautious, the Commissioner for Tourism of the German Government, Thomas Bareiß, agreed in an interview yesterday on the television channel "ntv".

"I think travelling is going to be difficult to imagine in the next two or three months," says Bareiß, “although I believe that from May the situation will be better again".

"I hope that summer is a long period to travel," adds the Commissioner for Tourism, although he acknowledges that 2021 will be a "very extraordinary" year for the entire tourism sector.

Fiebig also criticizes the new restrictions on public life and economic activity that came into force in Germany on Monday to stop the spread of the pandemic, especially the new measure that requires a double test for travellers returning from risk areas which has been labelled as "poison" for the sector and a "de facto travel ban": the first test is 48 hours before flying (or immediately after), and the second test is after at least five days of mandatory quarantine.

He believes that the "desire to travel" is there, especially among the many Germans who decided not to spend any of last summer beyond their borders because of the pandemic. "I expect a great recovery as soon as it is possible to travel under reasonable conditions again," he says.

In his opinion, the tests, both the PCR and the rapid ones, are preferable to quarantines and vaccinations at the moment, until there are more medical certainties for travelling.