(Alliance News) - A cruise ship is expected to set off from a German port on Friday evening for the first time since the coronavirus dealt a severe blow to the industry.
The ship, operated by travel giant TUI AG, is scheduled to depart at 9:30 pm from the northern city of Hamburg for a three-day round trip in the North Sea.
The vessel is carrying 60% of its usual capacity of almost 2,900 passengers.
Guests are expected to spend the weekend at sea, with no stops on land, before returning to Hamburg on Monday morning.
Social-distancing and hygiene rules are to be strictly enforced. In addition, guests are to be served food at the buffet table rather than being able to help themselves.
Passengers are also expected to fill out a health questionnaire before boarding the ship.
Several cruise operators are cautiously relaunching trips for tourists in the coming weeks, although it remains to be seen whether this will bring in enough liquidity to make up for the catastrophic losses inflicted on the travel industry by the pandemic.
Germany and countries across Europe began reopening their borders from mid-June in a bid to spur on the travel industry during the crucial summer season.
On Friday, the health ministers of Germany's 16 federal states agreed with the government to a framework requiring people returning to the country from foreign trips to undergo testing for the novel coronavirus.
Test facilities are to be set up at airports and harbours, in order for holidaymakers returning from high-risk areas to get tested.
Those who do not test negative will have to spend two weeks in home quarantine, under the new rules agreed to at state and federal level.
Those returning from regions not deemed risky will not be tested at airports but will have the opportunity to be tested within 72 hours, at doctors' practices or local health authorities.
The cost of the test is to be covered by health insurers. For testing at airports, lawmakers are weighing whether to pass on local infrastructure costs via airports to travellers, who would be charged higher ticket fees, according to the ministers' plans seen by dpa.
On Friday, an industry representative said there were many open questions about how testing should work at airports. The head of the German Air Transport Association, Matthias von Randow, said consideration should be given to the network of airports and hubs in order to ensure travellers did not miss their connecting flights while being tested.
He suggested testing passengers at their destination airports, rather than when they changed planes, pointing out that most travellers coming to Germany from countries considered risky land at Frankfurt and Munich before flying onwards.
Ministers have not yet decided to make testing a legal requirement but are considering this possibility.
For now, they have agreed on the need for a widespread information campaign at airports, train and bus stations and at border crossings.
Amid concern about the rising number of cases, German Health Minister Jens Spahn voiced a note of caution. "A test does not mean anything goes. It is just a snapshot of a particular moment," he said, adding it was no substitute for sensible behaviour.
Spahn said lawmakers were still working on a national testing strategy.
By Eckart Gienke and Rachel More
source: dpa
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