Travel umbrella organization ANVR wants clarity from the cabinet: either you maintain the orange 'negative' travel advice for practically all countries outside Europe but offer travel companies financial support, or you adjust the method of travel advice and open the world safely and responsibly, so that travel companies can can undertake. On the eve of the Economic Affairs and Climate Committee meeting in which the support measures will be discussed, the ANVR sent this in a letter to the party leaders of the House of Representatives and members of the Permanent Chamber Committee on EZK.
The government believes that the previous support measures have helped the companies well and are no longer necessary, because the economy is now running well and continuation of this support can even have a disruptive effect. “That probably applies”, says Frank Oostdam, chairman of ANVR, “probably for many companies, but certainly not yet for the travel sector. With a loss of turnover of 80% last year, at least 50% this year and much more for long-distance travel specialists, the travel sector is still in dire straits. This, while the travel companies affiliated with ANVR have taken major measures to keep their heads above water. For example, 30% of the workforce has already left the travel sector, reorganisations have been implemented and our companies have gone into serious debt.”
When asked what the ANVR requires from the cabinet in order to survive, Oostdam is firm: “At the moment, most countries outside Europe still have a dissuasive travel advice, which on the one hand does not take into account the fact that such a situation is now being taken into account. n 85% of the Dutch have been vaccinated and on the other hand a number of destinations are doing significantly better than the Netherlands.” The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is making preparations to arrive at a new system with regard to travel advice, whereby a distinction will be made between travel advice due to corona or travel advice due to safety risks, but this has not yet been implemented.
The fact that this problem of financial support will continue to be provided as long as the world is not yet open is not only a national issue, but also internationally, as is apparent from the fact that the European Commission decided in mid-November to extend the state aid scheme until mid-2022. In neighboring Germany, on the basis of this, the federal government has already decided to extend bridging aid and a short-time working scheme for the travel industry to the following year, according to ANVR.
"We therefore urgently appeal to the cabinet to make use of the European framework and to take measures for the travel industry in the Netherlands, just as in Germany, before 2022, not only aimed at reimbursement of fixed costs but also for wage costs such as in the NOW."
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