Tourism is one of the pillar industries in European countries. In the EU, tourism contributes about 10% of GDP and provides about 12% of jobs.
However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, Europe's tourism business was bleak in the first half of the year. Governments had hoped to restart tourism in the summer, but the epidemic situation in most countries has shown signs of rebounding recently, so the pace of restarting has to be more cautious.
According to the latest data released by the World Health Organization on the afternoon of 6th, in the past 24 hours in Europe, 25 178 cases were newly confirmed in COVID-19, with a total of 3,477,225 confirmed cases.
The Spanish epidemic has rebounded recently. According to the data released by the Western Ministry of Health on the 6th, as of 14, there were 1683 newly confirmed cases nationwide in a single day, with a total of 309,855 confirmed cases.
The number of newly confirmed cases in Romania continues to rise. According to statistics released by Romanian authorities on the 6th, in the past 24 hours, there were 45 new confirmed cases 1345, and 45 new deaths, bringing the total number of confirmed cases nationwide to 57,895.
The French health administration announced on the 5th that in the past 24 hours, France had newly confirmed cases 1695, the highest since May 30th. At present, there are still 294 active infectious cluster epidemics in France, and the virus transmission is still active during the summer vacation.
According to the data of COVID-19 epidemic released by Robert Koch Institute for Disease Control in Germany on the 6th, as of 0: 00 local time on the 6th, Germany had newly confirmed cases of 1045, which was the first time since May 7th.
Recently, the number of new cases in Switzerland has exceeded 100 every day. AlainBelser, Minister of the Interior of Switzerland, said in an interview with the media on July that the epidemic situation in Switzerland in the past two weeks is worrying, the self-discipline of the people has declined, and the future epidemic situation is facing great uncertainty.
There have been repeated outbreaks in Ireland recently. According to the announcement of the Irish Ministry of Health on the evening of the 6th, 43 1 case was newly confirmed in Ireland in the past 8 days, and the number of new cases increased significantly compared with before. Irish Prime Minister Michelle Martin announced on the evening of 4th that due to the recent increase of COVID-19 cases at home and abroad, the fourth phase of lifting the ban, which was originally scheduled to start on August 10, will be postponed.
Italian Health Minister Speranza said on the 6th that the epidemic situation in Italy has been in a relatively stable stage for several weeks, but "the battle is not over yet. Although Italy has got rid of the storm, it has not yet reached a safe harbor".
In order to control the epidemic rebound, European governments are cautious about restarting tourism and have taken various travel restrictions.
According to the "Swiss News" website reported on the 6th, in order to better control the epidemic, the Swiss government decided to strictly control the entry of people from countries outside the Schengen area from the 8th.
On the 6th, the Finnish government decided to resume the travel restrictions on the Netherlands, Belgium and Andorra from 10, because the data of COVID-19 cases in these countries exceeded the public standards previously set by Finland. Finland relaxed its travel restrictions on tourists from Europe 17 countries in mid-July, but last week it resumed its travel restrictions on Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland due to the epidemic.
The Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a travel warning to Spain again on the 6th, and requested that people from Spain must hold a negative certificate of nucleic acid test before entering the country from 10.
German Federal Minister of Health Spang announced on the 6th that from the 8th, all people who enter Germany from high-risk areas will be forced to undergo virus testing. According to the new regulations, these passengers must be tested within 48 hours before entry or 72 hours after entry, and they need to be isolated before negative test results are issued.
In Canary Islands, a famous Spanish tourist resort, the COVID-19 epidemic has seriously affected the local tourism. According to a recent data released by the National Bureau of Statistics of Spain, canary I.