The German tour operator Schauinsland-Reisen started the 40/2019 financial year with a 20 percent increase, but then came Corona. Sales fell by 63 percent to 511 million euros. There were also 68 percent fewer travelers. According to a company announcement, there were around 529.000 paying customers.

The tour operator explains that the burdens and consequences of the corona pandemic have been "above average" and that they are well positioned for the tourist comeback in 2021. “We made a conscious decision, with entrepreneurial foresight, to be available to our partners and customers in the best possible way, even in this extremely difficult phase, and to take care of ourselves. Due to the large volume of up to 10.000 e-mail and 3.000 telephone inquiries a day, we have not always succeeded in doing this in full, but the positive feedback from our sales partners and customers makes it clear that our commitment and investment in long-term customer relationships is appreciated, "said Gerald Kassner, managing director of Schauinsland-Reisen. “The sales and attendance figures have plummeted, there is nothing to gloss over. But there will be a time after the crisis. A time in which the basic need for vacation and relaxation needs to be satisfied again and here the sales partners and customers will remember very well who was available and who took care of them. We can and will score here ”.

The company does not provide a forecast for the 2020/21 financial year. Winter business will be particularly challenging. Popular long-distance destinations such as the Dominican Republic, Thailand or the Maldives can still not be visited and travel warnings still exist for medium-haul destinations such as the Canary Islands or Egypt. "For us and for the entire tourism industry, it is important that politicians issue travel warnings with a greater sense of proportion in the future and not lump entire archipelagos together," said Kassner's request to politicians. Summer 2021, which could be booked very early and for which the printed catalog portfolio of Schauinsland-Reisen will be published these days, is currently in the black. However, this positive development is due to a large number of rebookings and not primarily to very early advance bookings. However, the summer season 21 could, at least in part, build on the numbers of the past. "If the right political decisions are made and we find a better way of dealing with the virus - maybe even through a vaccination - in 2021, then we could build 70-80 percent of the summer of 2019," Kassner predicts cautiously.