COVID-19: Summer vacation away from the mainstream

DW: You have been providing your readers with travel tips for over 40 years and are one of the market leaders in the travel guide industry in Germany. You had planned new publications in spring when the coronavirushit. How did you react?

Michael Müller: We immediately stopped production, closed the publishing house and sent our employees into reduced working hours. We have scaled down practically everything to zero; completed books have not been printed — such as the new edition of our Portugal travel guide. I can only hope that we don't lose any authors in all this. They have no income now.

Are you worried about your publishing company, or are you confident that you will overcome this crisis?

Of course, I'm worried. I just hope that our measures will be effective. We're going to start up again very slowly. We've increased the work time of some of the editorial staff to 20% so that the German publications that were already half-finished can be finalized and printed as quickly as possible.

There are currently 40 publications about Germany available, covering everything from the Allgäu region to the North Sea coast. The new edition on the Mecklenburg Baltic Sea will be published in June.

Individual travel guides like yours depend heavily on the tips provided by their authors. Many of these tips may no longer be up to date because of the coronavirus crisis. Does anyone even want to buy travel guides now?

We think so. After all, it's not just about tips on hotels or restaurants, many of which will still apply. Our guides are also about tours, sightseeing, nature experiences or the mentality of a country, which remains the same. For the publications that will be released at the end of the year and some of which have already been researched — such as Portugal, for example — we will follow up on the spot to incorporate any changes. Naturally, we cannot guarantee everything. But our readers will understand that.

What advice do you give your readers, how can they get up-to-date information for their travel plans?

We've been operating on multiple fronts for years. We offer not only print editions, but also apps and websites. There we always have travel guide updates. We are continuing to expand this consistently, and now we are also adding up-to-date information. It's best to check there. By the way, our online customers receive these updates automatically.

Let's talk about travel in the summer of 2020: Will Germans travel, and if so, where will they go?

That's a good question. At the height of the coronavirus crisis, nobody really thought about planning their holidays, because nobody knew where it would be safe. We asked our readers and sent out questionnaires with 40,000 newsletters. The result was: Many of our readers are not yet planning anything or have decided to stay at home this year, go on weekend trips or take a vacation in Germany. At the Baltic Sea, in the Allgäu region — in any case somewhere in Germany.

Vacation in Germany — could this become a trend?

Yes, I think so. It won't be a big trend, but a small, noticeable one. Many people travel three or four times a year. They fly to Mallorca, Lisbon or Crete. I can imagine that many people who travel several times a year will be more interested in Germany.

Which one of your travel guides is a bestseller?

Crete is one of our bestsellers. We sell 8,000 copies a year — compared to the guide on Franconian Switzerland, which sells perhaps 1,400 copies on average. We have a wide range of travel guides about German regions. But to focus on German travel regions is of limited value. There is an incredible amount of work involved in creating these travel guides, keeping them up-to-date, and revising them over and over again. Unfortunately, these editions are often not worthwhile for the publisher or author. This is why we won't venture into publishing one on the Rhön region for instance, which is one of those underestimated regions. Unfortunately.

Do you prefer Europe after all? We are seeing a gradual opening of the borders. The tourist industry is pushing for restrictions to be lifted. Which countries would you recommend as a travel destination?

Slovenia, Croatia, Greece — all the countries that had relatively low infection rates. And as far as I can tell, these countries are actively committed to ensuring that the risk of infection remains relatively low. The big question is: Will people be prepared to take the risk of getting on a plane in order to get there? Ryanair, Lufthansa and other airlines are starting up again in June. We will know soon.

So, will individual travelers fare better this summer than package holiday tourists?

An individual traveler books and arranges their own trip, plan their routes according to their taste and can avoid crowds. That means there is a choice. This summer I would rather travel to Slovenia by car and rent a holiday home. With a package tour, I usually take a plane, fly to Tunisia, Spain or Portugal and move into a hotel there. I find both — the journey by plane and staying in a large hotel — still too risky. I can imagine that package tours will be less in demand this summer. Imagine being suddenly quarantined in a hotel. A horror scenario! I would rather be in an apartment or holiday home or be able to get in my car and drive home.

Could it be that the coronavirus crisis will bring about the end of mass tourism?

That's utopian. As long as people can afford to travel, there will be mass tourism. I firmly believe that. Europeans who are travel-experienced will continue to try to take holidays in Europe away from the mainstream. That does not mean that they will not go to Rome or Barcelona. It just means that they will behave differently and spend the night outside the city and visit other areas within the city that might not be such tourist attractions.