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Anyone traveling to Switzerland from a country at risk has to be quarantined for ten days. That actually means a travel ban on vacation. But with the increasing number of cases and increasing risk areas, this regulation is increasingly being questioned. “The quarantine time should be reduced whenever possible,” demands Martin Nydegger, Swiss Tourism Director at “NZZ am Sonntag”.
An alliance of 20 tourism associations has presented the corresponding demands to the federal government. “We require that business and leisure travelers from risky areas with a negative Corona test that has no more than 48 hours to enter Switzerland.” It was feared that otherwise the winter tourists would not come.
“There is a lot at stake”
“If the French guests are absent in the fall and winter seasons, it hits us hard,” Nydegger says. In winter, for example, the French are important clients of Swiss ski resorts. “The stakes are high for us,” says Valais Chief Financial Officer Christophe Darbellay.
Also in Graubünden, people are already very worried about the upcoming winter season: “Any travel restriction is a loss for us”, believes Jürg Schmid, President of Tourism Graubünden. The main goal should be to keep contagion as low as possible. Only then would people travel more again. Schmid: “But the constant adjustments due to countries and now also to regions that are on the risk list are causing great uncertainty.”
“We have to try faster”
The demands of tourism experts are clear: a forced testing strategy and a shorter quarantine period are required. “The ten-day quarantine is too long,” says Darbellay. “We have to do more tests, and especially faster, to be able to shorten the quarantine.”
According to “NZZ am Sonntag”, the federal government is concerned whether the duration of the quarantine could be shortened. A group of experts examines the relevant changes. Epidemiologist Christian Althaus says further adjustments are possible. But he warns: “The increase in new infections will continue in the fall and winter. Then the testing capabilities might be exhausted again. “(Pbe)
