BERLIN, June 18 (Xinhua) -- Adjusted turnover of German travel providers in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020 declined by 23 percent compared with the previous quarter, the Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) announced on Thursday.
"This was the largest decline in turnover in the travel industry since 2008," Destatis noted.
Germany's tourism sector was hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 crisis. Border closures and global travel warnings had temporarily brought the business in the tourism industry to a virtual standstill.
Since the beginning of the week, travel to many European countries is once again possible, after the travel warning for most EU member states, non-EU Schengen states as well as for Britain was lifted by the German government.
In 2018, almost one in five households in Germany had booked a package holiday. According to Destatis, German households spent an average of around 1,000 euros (1,125 U.S. dollars) on package holidays in 2018. Enditem
