Thirty more people diagnosed with the coronavirus died in the Netherlands since Friday, raising the death toll to 136. The country's health agency said another 637 people tested positive for the virus, which raises the country's total to 3,631 since testing began in late February.
Patients requiring hospitalization also rose by 193 patients, health agency RIVM said. To date, 836 coronavirus patients were admitted to the hospital since testing started.
The some 200 thousand Dutch tourists stuck abroad are running out of time and possibilities to get home as more and more countries close their borders and global air traffic gets closer to being shut down. Some 150 thousand people are at risk of getting stranded for a long time, the Telegraaf reports after speaking to travel agencies and airlines.
Another 364 people tested positive for the Covid-19 variant of the novel coronavirus since Tuesday, and 15 more people infected with the virus were pronounced dead. The total number of people in the country who have been diagnosed with the virus stands at 2,051, Dutch health agency RIVM announced.
Roughly a fourth of those infected, 485, work in the healthcare industry. Those workers are tested more frequently than anyone else, the RIVM explained.
Travelers from the Netherlands who end up quarantined in a hotel because of coronavirus will likely have to pay most of the costs involved themselves. Travel agencies will only cover the first three days of forced quarantine, and travel insurance in most cases will not cover the rest, a spokesperson for the Dutch association for travel agencies ANVR told NL Times.
The quarantine period for Covid-19 is typically 14 days. Tour operators are responsible for paying the first three days of forced quarantine when the trip was booked with an ANVR member.
The travel industry does not have an action plan for dealing with the consequences of coronavirus Covid-19, Frank Oostdam of travel agencies' organization ANVR said to BNR. Now that the virus is spreading to holiday destinations like Tenerife, travel agencies are facing hundreds of questions about cancelations.
Online stores are asking the government for a public online means of identification, similar to the government's DigiD. This will greatly improve safety in online shopping, according to branch organizations Detailhandel Nederland and Thuiswinkel.org, and travel companies' organization ANVR, the Telegraaf reports.
The lack of online identification creates a distinct difference between online and physical trading, and promotes identity fraud, a spokesperson for Thuiswinkel.org said to the newspaper.
Every traveler who boards a plane in the Netherlands must be protected against the bankruptcy of airlines, according to travel companies’ association ANVR, travelers’ association ANWB, consumers’ association Consumentenbond, and travel guarantee fund SGR. On Monday they will submit a proposal for a guarantee fund for refunding individual tickets, the Telegraaf reports.
Travelers guarantee fund SGR opened an emergency number for Dutch travelers who are currently on a vacation booked through Thomas Cook. On Monday evening it was announced that all Thomas Cook Nederland and Neckermann trips scheduled for Tuesday were canceled. Around a thousand Dutch are affected by this, NU.nl reports.
Tour operators and travel agencies plan to claim the damages they suffered due to refueling problems at Schiphol on Wednesday back from the airport. The disruption led to hundreds of flights being canceled or delayed, affecting tens of thousands of travelers. "It involves a lot of money", Frank Oostdam of trade association ANVR said to NOS.
The warm and dry weather in the Netherlands resulted in fewer Dutch going on summer holiday abroad. In June 8 percent and July 5.5 percent fewer people booked a holiday through a travel agency, compared to the same months last year, sector organization ANVR said, NOS reports.
From this autumn travel agencies' trip information will include data on how much damage consumers' vacations will cause to the climate. Travel industry association ANVR is currently researching how to best make this information available.
Travel agencies in the Netherlands area concerned that the terrorist attacks in Brussels on Tuesday will lead to mass cancellations of booked holidays. "The terrorist threat is getting very close for people now. More and more people are afraid to take the plan or the train to go abroad", Frank Oostdam of ANVR said
Holiday bookings to Turkey has taken a dip after the attacks in recent weeks.
Travel organization Oad has been declared bankrupt on Wednesday. The company says that the bad economical climate and the reduced turnover in the travel branch have caused the bankruptcy.
Oad had to file for bankruptcy since they couldn’t pay their bills and salaries anymore.
Family owned company
