The EU unveiled plans to save the summer vacation yesterday
In a series of guidelines published yesterday, the commission advised countries to adopt a gradual and phased approach to "start lifting restrictions between member states with sufficiently similar epidemiological situations".
The whole point of this is to ensure that tourism activity in the summer is somewhat salvaged, as it would prove to be a massive loss of income for many countries in the region if borders were to remain closed all the way through to July or August.
Hence, the commission also did not make mention of its previous recommendation to extend border controls until 15 June as they point towards the travel period over the next few months being an important source of income to member states:
"In Europe, the summer is a crucial season for tourism: during an average summer season (June-August) residents of the EU make 385 million tourism trips and spend €190 billion."
It is a good sign for international travel in general and for the services sector, but I would still expect a significant reduction in global tourism activity over the next few months - especially with many countries still advising caution to citizens to travel abroad.
That said, this move does come with risks as it is likely to raise odds of a secondary virus outbreak if the situation is not handled with the utmost care.
