Travel

A Dutch tour operator is selling "corona-free" holiday packages for its three hotels in the Mediterranean province of Antalya.

The European Union executive will recommend on Wednesday that border restrictions be gradually lifted and travel stalled by the coronavirus pandemic allowed to restart in order to revive tourism, a major industry across the 27-country bloc.

The 100% Hospitality Week series of online seminars continues on Wednesday with the Sales & Marketing theme. 

Turkey's large tourism industry is preparing to welcome guests with new and much stricter rules so as to ensure a safe stay for holidaymakers amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry has set out a total of 103 criteria, with which tourism venues are expected to comply this summer, as part of its tourism certification program.

The Chinese unit of Germany's TUI, the world's biggest tourism group, said on Sunday it has resumed offering holiday packages in China and urged the European Union to lift travel restrictions in place to curb the coronavirus.

Travelers will be welcome to visit Greece this summer but social distancing rules will remain in place to keep people safe from coronavirus, Greek tourism minister Harry Theocharis said.

In its first measure regarding the tourism sector beyond financial support for employees due to the Coronavirus pandemic , who are included in horizontal measures to support labour, the government has ordered the closure of seasonal Greek hotels and other tourist facilities through 30 August, though the tempest for tourism is expected to drag through the summer tourist season.

Serbia, Albania and Romania have closed many of their border crossings in order to combat the spread of the coronavirus, leaving some parts of the Balkans practically cut off for civil traffic.

All countries of the region have either banned entry or introduced special restrictive measures for passengers arriving from countries with mid to high to risk of coronavirus.

The Hungarian government has declared a state of emergency throughout the country because of the new coronavirus. Prime Minister Gergely Gulyаs said the measure was adopted in accordance with a proposal by the Ministry of Interior, MIA reported.

The early days were especially tough. "Polish people would try to help me by recommending jobs, but they were always menial ones," Trofimova told BIRN in a phone interview. "It took a long time before I ran into Poles who don't automatically see me as a servant, but treat me as an equal."