With the surprising decision of the Federal Government to let the Foreign Office extend the existing, worldwide travel warning until June 14th, a difficult situation arises in the charter market and also for owners with ships in the Mediterranean. Because now a delicate situation can arise for charter customers: Should some southern European countries actually open their ports by mid-May and loosen the entry bans for Germans, as is currently being considered in Croatia and Greece, this could be the charter companies' carte blanche to give the customer signal: In June you can use your boat with me. The company would have fulfilled its part of the contract - and can even refuse to rebook or cancel the charter. So far, however, such a scenario has only occurred in a very few cases.
But if a quarantine of 14 days for returnees from other countries continues to apply on the German side until June 14, most owners and charter customers will probably not take the trip. In addition, there is another risk: You can ignore existing travel warnings and still travel, but the Federal Foreign Office is already saying that there will be no further repatriation campaigns if there are any further tightening due to coronavirus in the travel destination. In plain language: If someone flies to Croatia, Greece or another country that opens before June 14th and then closes the borders again at short notice due to a second corona wave, he is on his own. The airlines are very quick to cut connections in such cases, and this can become a trap.
Another problem is the flights themselves. The travel warning from the Foreign Office practically entitles package travelers to cancel free of charge, the flight market from German airports to the corresponding areas will probably be largely canceled by June 14th, as the majority of tourists are missing. Most tour operators cancel their trips immediately after the current deadlines set by the Federal Foreign Office. Sailors are individual travelers who rarely fill a charter plane. Only those who can reach their own boat or the charter base by car can avoid the problem.
Although the announcements by some Mediterranean countries that they will open the marinas in mid-May do not automatically mean that charter is possible again there, but a possible conflict is looming. Apparently, at the conference of EU foreign ministers yesterday, it was not possible to agree on an EU-coordinated procedure with deadlines and opening dates.