Berlin & Brandenburg: Senate: Visiting relatives is not a tourist trip

Monday 30th November 2020

Berlin (dpa / bb) – The Berlin Senate is sticking to the fact that hotel stays over Christmas should be possible for visiting relatives in the capital. “The rule is that all non-essential trips should be avoided,” said Senate spokeswoman Melanie Reinsch on Monday upon request. “This includes tourist trips. Visiting relatives is not a tourist trip.”

Because of the partial lockdown, hotels and guest houses are not allowed to accommodate tourists – from the Senate’s point of view, this still applies. On Wednesday, the federal and state governments agreed that the partial lockdown should initially be extended to December 20. Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has criticized the plans of various countries, particularly those affected by the corona pandemic, to allow hotel stays for family visits in large cities over Christmas.

In a virtual meeting of the CDU presidium on Monday, Merkel acknowledged the decision by the federal and state governments to relax the strict corona contact restrictions over the festive period, participants reported to the German press agency in Berlin on Monday. At the same time, she was quoted as saying that she lacked the imagination to suspect that particularly affected countries wanted to open the hotels. It is not controllable whether only guests stay in the hotels who actually visit relatives in the region, the Prime Minister justified her criticism.

The Berlin Senate has not joined the easing of the contact restrictions for Christmas. In the capital, a maximum of five people should be allowed to meet for private get-togethers over the holidays, with no specifications being made as to how many households they come from. Children up to 14 years are not counted. The federal and state governments had agreed on an upper limit of ten people plus children up to 14 years of age for meetings between “closest family or friends” from December 23 to January 1.