The streets of Berlin are sparsely populated today, and tourists are completely absent
The only thing you can buy today in Terminal A of Berlin's Tegel airport is face masks, paracetamol and vitamins. Because the pharmacy is the only thing that is open, notes Deutsche Welle. All other kiosks, cafes, restaurants and shops are closed, ATMs are turned off, check-in counters are deserted, the taxi stand is empty, the bus stop has no passengers.
Above the pharmacy is a departure board, all flights are handled at the neighboring temporary Terminal C. Two flights to Munich, two flights to Frankfurt, one flight to Helsinki – and that's it.
This is all that remains of the once overcrowded airport of a city with a population of 3.5 million, which ranked third in popularity among tourists in Europe, after London and Paris. On the tarmac of Tegel are a dozen parked planes in the orange livery of European budget airline EasyJet. These planes have not flown since the end of March.
Complete cancellation of tours as an 'economic catastrophe'
The tour buses of Berlin City Tours have been off the road even longer – since mid-March. Two months ago, the company employed 120 people – bus drivers, ticket sellers, managers. Today, only the general director Axel Mißner and a human resources manager remain in the office, while everyone else is either still taking their compensatory time off or has been placed on short-time work (Kurzarbeit) – this model allows companies in Germany to reduce working hours without laying off employees; during this time, they receive 60% of their salary from the budget of the Federal Employment Agency (Bundesagentur für Arbeit) (from the fourth month – 70%, and from the seventh – 80%).
"For us, this is an economic catastrophe," says Axel Mißner. "Since March 17, all our revenues have gone to zero." Thirty-five bright red tour buses are parked in a garage in the Tempelhof district. Mißner hopes that his company can resume operations at least by mid-summer. He says that the relatively good situation with the dynamics of the number of infected in Berlin gives him reason for optimism.
According to him, bus tours will change under the influence of the pandemic – the company plans to separate the driver from the cabin with a plastic partition, equip street ticket sellers with masks and gloves, and seat clients on buses so that there is one and a half meters between them – that is, one row of seats.
Mißner assures that tickets will not become more expensive because of this. He is confident that the current situation cannot last long – not everyone will survive a month and a half without clients, especially in spring, at the beginning of the high season. The famous ITB Berlin travel trade show was canceled for the first time in 54 years
Empty hotel and fear of losing a job
At the Palace Hotel across from the famous Berlin Zoo, work is in full swing. Taking advantage of the complete absence of guests, the hotel management has started renovations in one of the buildings, fortunately the construction noise does not bother anyone. The hotel's general manager Michael Frenzel has managed this hotel for 20 years and says he has never seen anything like it in his life.
When asked if he is afraid of losing his job, he replies: "Of course, I am afraid." But even more, he says, he fears for his 240 employees – all of whom he also had to put on short-time work. He hopes that sooner or later the hotel business will recover and that he will be able to save all jobs. But the hotel director does not venture any forecasts regarding the timeline. He only says that the state short-time work system is the only thing that allows him to avoid forced layoffs.
Tourism – a key sector of Berlin's economy
The city's tourism office says that it will clearly take more than a year to fully restore the tourism industry in the German capital. Last year, over 34.1 million overnight stays were registered in Berlin, the annual turnover of the tourism industry is estimated at 11.5 billion euros, and the average tourist spends 205 euros per day in Berlin (and the average business tourist or congress participant – 245 euros).
Currently, the CEO of VisitBerlin, Burkhard Kieker, estimates the city's daily losses at 40-50 million euros per day. "We all – the entire city economy – cannot afford this for long," he says. "Medicine and the protection of life should not contradict each other. Unfortunately, I think that despite all the financial support from federal and city authorities, some of our partners will have big problems with survival."
In total, about 235,000 people are employed in tourism and culture in Berlin, says Kieker. And not all of these jobs will be able to be saved. At the same time, he is confident that Berlin's attractiveness as a "showcase of Germany" will help to make up for lost ground very quickly. Not in a week or a month, but in a year or two.
To restart tourism in Berlin, a state support program will be needed, he is sure. Negotiations about it are already underway, but specific timelines or details have not been outlined. The first step towards saving the tourism industry, according to Kieker, will be the summer holidays. "Since travel abroad will be unavailable this summer," he says, "we will use the moment to attract Germans to our gracious and very green city, surrounded by dozens of lakes."