Vienna. The Christmas holidays have already passed with a total failure for the domestic tourism industry. And the situation is also becoming increasingly critical for the semester break. In any case, the domestic lockdown will last until January 24th. In Germany, the country of origin for guests, which is important for Austrian tourism companies, it was extended to January 31st due to the still high number of infections. If a similar step were to take place in Austria, the semester break in Vienna and Lower Austria would probably no longer be sensible and a skiing holiday in western Austria would probably no longer be possible.
To prevent this, the calls from business are getting louder calling for a change in the corona policy. Instead of closing everything by means of lockdown, infections should be prevented via restaurants, hotels or at events by only allowing those people who can show a negative corona test to gain access. “Such entry tests would be a sensible measure to prevent direct infections,” says Chamber of Commerce Secretary General Karlheinz Kopf.
The negative test would be a kind of “second ticket” that had to be shown “every time facilities that are currently closed” are entered. The President of the Hoteliers Association, Michaela Reitterer, sees it similarly: “Those who are healthy, who cannot infect anyone, have to be able to work and have a safe vacation.”
The semester break would then probably be the first litmus test for this test strategy. Because in February there is a lot going on for the domestic tourism industry. Figures from the National Bank on the payment behavior of guests in accommodation establishments show that of the five busiest weeks of the year, three are in February. The other two are those around Christmas and New Years Eve.
How old can a test be?
The required entry testing should be necessary until the vaccination has ensured that the pandemic in Austria has largely stopped – i.e. probably several months. And some technical questions are still open. The most important of these: How old can a test be? In the public discussion so far, periods of two to seven days have been mentioned. According to experts, however, an antigen test is only valid for about 24 hours.
It is also not yet entirely clear to what extent entry testing should also apply to businesses. According to the head of the trade association, Rainer Will, you are eligible for the tests – but only in facilities with a longer stay. However, since the average shopping time is only 13 minutes, this would not apply to retailers.
In order to make nationwide tests as easy as possible for the population, the Chamber of Commerce wants to encourage companies to offer tests on site. It is estimated that a quarter of all companies with more than 50 employees could ultimately participate. This would allow around 500,000 employees to have the regular test carried out quickly and easily during their working hours. However, the state would then have to reimburse the companies for the costs of the tests.
