Austria to Allow Tourist Entry During Summer Vacation Season?

Elisabeth Koestinger (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Onyu Lim] Austria is expected to partially reopen its borders, which were closed to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), during the summer vacation season.

Elisabeth K?stinger, Austria's Minister of Tourism, stated this in an interview with the local newspaper Die Presse on the 19th (local time).

Minister K?stinger said, "Freedom of travel will continue to be restricted for the next few months," but added, "However, there is a practical possibility of (border reopening) based on bilateral agreements with countries like Germany, where (COVID-19 control) is progressing well."

She also mentioned, "Without foreign guests, (Austria's tourism industry) will have to bear losses." The economic difficulties faced by the tourism industry are the background for considering limited border reopening. German tourists accounted for more than 30% of foreign visitors to Austria last summer.

However, Minister K?stinger added that many citizens are expected to spend their vacations in Austria this year instead of popular destinations like Italy or Greece due to the impact of COVID-19.

Austria began gradually easing lockdown measures starting with small shops on the 14th, as the spread of COVID-19 within the country slowed down.

According to the Ministry of Health, as of this day, the cumulative number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is 14,662. The cumulative number of deaths and recoveries, as of the previous day, are 443 and 10,214 respectively.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.