News & Stories

Madrid. This week, Spain faced two big announcements. Firstly, a second state of emergency was announced within one year. Secondly, the Canary and the Balearic Islands were included in the checklist of safe destinations for their main European source markets, Germany and the UK.

Bern. The aggravations in Switzerland, announced on Wednesday, will further worsen the already dramatic situation in the industry. In order to cushion a wave of insolvencies and layoffs from 2021, the Swiss Hotel Industry Association is calling in particular for hardship assistance amounting to 500 million Swiss francs.

Berlin. Headlines, court rulings, dismissed cases, a fourth traffic light colour, even stricter restrictions and everything always at short notice: the corona chaos is increasing every week. There is no longer any planning at all - although people still want to travel. News of this week.

Hamburg. While Europe is still in the stranglehold of Covid-19, the crisis in China is basically considered to be mastered. It is slowly becoming apparent that Chinese travellers will soon be travelling to Europe again. Training programmes for hotels are helping them to adapt to the new demands.

Bern. The situation in the Swiss hotel industry is worsening throughout the country, says the HotellerieSuisse industry association according to its latest survey. The probability of bankruptcies is growing, especially in Zurich and Geneva.

Lucerne. Next year, the World Economic Forum will not take place in Davos, but in Lucerne mainly in the Bürgenstock Hotels & Resorts as a hybrid format in conformity with corona conditions. This was announced by the organizer Klaus Schwab yesterday. The move back to Davos is planned for 2022.

Madrid. Since the declaration of the alarm state in Spain on March 12, 80% of the Spanish hotels have been closed and 206,000 employees laid off. 19% of the total Spanish workers are affected. Social coverage for them has become a mega topic.

Vienna. There's panic in the Austrian hotel and catering industry. Without a rescue plan, every second hotel is likely to collapse. The EU continues to block plans for a second fixed cost subsidy. Meanwhile, the hotel industry is demanding further compensation for lost income, while restaurants are struggling with restrictions on their evening business hours. In Tyrol, the first hotels on the border with Germany are already closing. If revenue from overnight stays in the Alpine region were to fall by just one third, the region would lose over EUR 7 billion. Austria is becoming increasingly desperate.

Berlin. Mutual travel warnings, Corona traffic lights, bans and fines: Rising corona infection figures and the approaching winter tempt politicians to take more stringent measures. At the same time, more and more other countries are warning against Germany. As a result, everyone is facing a hard winter.

Munich. 2019 was a record year for business travel. The figures highlight the enormous economic power of the business trip and corporate events. Six months after lockdown, many companies are now once again allowing business travel. Insofar as it is not taking place, this is due to the chaos in planning caused by political decision-makers. Such unreliability has to stop. The VDR Business Travel Analysis 2020 provides evidence with concrete figures.