GERMANY. Gebr Heinemann, one of travel retail’s most enduring and influential companies, said today that it has lost 32% of its global workforce due to COVID-19. And the company’s CEO Max Heinemann hit out at the tight travel restrictions imposed in Germany in particular.
The German government today extended a series of lockdown measures until 18 April in a bid to slow the rate of infection – with one requirement being that all air travellers must produce a negative COVID-19 test before flying to Germany, regardless of where they travel from. The government has appealed to all citizens to refrain from non-essential travel within the country and abroad.
In a hard-hitting statement on LinkedIn, Max Heinemann said: “The federal state decision with no recognisable opening perspective and instead with a de facto travel ban is a bitter setback for the entire travel industry.
“The continuation of the tourist lockdown and the continued negative positioning of travel by politics is disproportionate and once again increases the existential fears of companies throughout the travel industry.
“We have already had to say goodbye to a third of our employees worldwide – a stab in the heart for our family business. It cannot be that the questionable management of the German government in matters of vaccination is carried out solely at the expense of companies and their employees.”
As reported, last week Heinemann said that 53% of its nearly 400 airport shops worldwide remain closed.
In a statement on LinkedIn, it said: “To safely restart travel, the entire industry is calling for the replacement of blanket travel restrictions with a controllable testing strategy. An effective testing strategy would create more certainty in infection control, reduce the risk of importing the virus and at the same time allow more mobility.
“Corresponding concepts are already available. These must now be implemented promptly in order to enable more mobility again and at the same time strengthen health protection.”
