Over 17,000 sign up for Covid-proof vacation trial; Only 189 spots available

Over 17 thousand people signed up for an experiment with a Covid-19-proof vacation to the Greek island of Rhodes, travel company Sunweb said on Thursday. The vast majority of them will be disappointed - the experiment only has space for 189 participants.

Sunweb will first make a selection based on the criteria the government gave for the experiment. Only people between the ages of 18 and 70 who do not belong to any coronavirus risk group can participate. After that, the travel company will look at who registered first.

"Because it was so busy that some of the visitors were placed in a queue - just like you see when buying tickets for festivals - a notary will also select a small group of people who were only able to register in the past few hours," a Sunweb spokesperson said to NU.nl. 

The departure date for this experimental vacation is April 12. Participants will get an eight day-long all inclusive package trip to a resort on Rhodes. They won't be able to leave the resort, but otherwise will get a normal holiday experience. The resort will be staffed, but there will be no other guests. Participants will get tested for the coronavirus before and after the vacation.

The participants will still pay for their vacation, but the involved travel companies will cover the costs of the coronavirus tests.