|
 Salvaging the summer
Aiming to salvage the summer tourism season, the Brussels-based
European Commission will on Wednesday issue guidelines for border
restrictions to be gradually lifted and "unrestricted free movement"
to restart.
At least 17 countries have imposed emergency border controls to
contain the coronavirus, even within the Schengen area, comprising
26 EU and other European countries where frontiers are normally
invisible.
Tourism suffered an 80-90% loss in turnover in the first quarter of
2020, hospitality industry lobby groups said, and the sector is
braced for a disastrous summer as the EU faces its deepest-ever
recession.
However it remains to be seen whether individual countries comply
with EU guidelines. Until now, they have tended to go their own way.
Spain, for one, is insisting on quarantines for incoming travellers.
Contradictory rules? Just use your common sense...
As governments and business seek to reopen economies, people are
often being told they must use common sense to interpret often vague
guidelines.
In England for example, ministers are being asked why it is okay for
estate agents to resume house viewings while people cannot have
relatives to visit.
"There is no perfect way of doing this, and we'd ask people to use
their common sense," said Transport Minister Grant Shapps.
...and police yourselves
Similar questions abound as air travel restarts.
[to top of second column] |
American Airlines, Delta Air and United Airlines have told flight attendants not
to force passengers to comply with their new policy requiring face coverings,
but just to encourage them to do so, according to employee policies seen by
Reuters.
"If the customer chooses not to comply for other reasons, please encourage them
to comply, but do not escalate further," American told flight attendants on
Friday.
"Likewise, if a customer is frustrated by another customer’s lack of face
covering, please use situational awareness to de-escalate the situation," it
added.
Virtual presence not a substitute
From cardboard cut-outs of real fans to an app allowing supporters to influence
the volume of noise piped into stadiums, people are developing ideas for how to
put some matchday atmosphere back into stadiums.
But for many, the real problem of "ghost matches" played without fans is the
eerie atmosphere with only the shouts of players and coaching staff echoing
around deserted arenas.
Cologne coach Markus Gisdol suggested this could even lead to frayed tempers,
saying of a March match against Borussia Moenchengladbach: "Everyone on the
sidelines was a little more irritable than usual because you could hear more of
what the opposing bench were saying and what the officials were saying to each
other."
(Compiled by Karishma Singh; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Giles Elgood)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |
