BERLIN- Summer holidays and visits to restaurants to be possible from the end of June, supported by the mass rollout of vaccines against the coronavirus, German Deputy Economy Minister Thomas Bareiss told a German newspaper.
Bareiss, who is also the federal tourism commissioner, told daily Bild that Germany should have received 77 million vaccine doses by the end of June, enough to vaccinate every adult at least once.
"This will make holidays and restaurant visits safely feasible for everyone," Bareiss, a lawmaker for Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats, said in an advanced copy of the paper's Monday edition.
His comments contradict those from Merkel's chief of staff, Helge Braun, who told the Bild am Sonntag he thought travel would be possible again in August.
Germans can travel freely even amid the pandemic, but Merkel and state leaders decided last week to keep hotels and holiday resorts closed for tourists to try and break a third wave of the pandemic.
Thousands of Germans are, however, expected to travel to Mallorca over the Easter holiday period after Berlin removed the region from its coronavirus risk list.
(Reporting by Caroline Copley Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky) ((Caroline.Copley@thomsonreuters.com; +49 (0)30 2201 33584 ;))
