When will Germany relax restrictions on international and domestic travel?

What are the rules right now?

Germany recently tightened measures across the country to battle a third wave of Covid-19. In areas where there are more than 100 Covid-19 cases per 100,000 people, restrictions including curfews and tighter contact rules are in place.

Across Germany there is no ban on travel. However, as has been the case since November last year, non-essential travel is strongly discouraged.

Are there any plans to ease the testing and quarantine rules on foreign travel?

If you are considering travelling at the moment, you have to be aware of the strict rules on testing and quarantine on your return to Germany - and also for the country you are going to.

These restrictions are aimed at discouraging people from travel as well as keeping the spread of Covid-19 and variants under control.

Virus variants that have been cropping up are causing more headaches for global travel. Germany currently bans travel (with some exceptions) from several countries which are listed as “virus variant areas” including India.

EXPLAINED: What you need to know about the latest rules on travel to and from Germany

From March 30th 2021, new testing rules came into force in Germany.

They prescribe that everyone arriving in the country by plane, regardless of the risk status of the place they are travelling from, has to present a negative coronavirus test certificate no older than 48 hours before boarding.

This testing obligation came into place for all travellers over concerns that German tourists were controversially flocking to Mallorca over the Easter holidays after the Spanish island was removed as a “risk” country by German authorities.

Before, only passengers coming from RKI-designated “high-risk” coronavirus areas or “areas of variant concern” were required to show a negative test upon arrival in Germany.

READ ALSO: 'I really needed a break': Pandemic-weary Germans find 'freedom' on Mallorca

This obligation for everyone to show a negative test before flying to Germany applies up to and including May 12th. However, it could be extended.

Will you be able to travel if you're vaccinated or tested against Covid?

This looks likely. At the EU-wide level, the European Parliament is debating vaccine passports on Wednesday April 28th.

What about international travel in general?

While border policy is a matter for individual member states, the EU has adopted some rules across the bloc particularly around travel from outside Europe.

Merkel said: "There is still a serious situation. The faster we get through this serious phase, the faster hope spreads."

The Chancellor once again emphasised that Germany's intensive care units are struggling. As before, she said, the danger of overburdening the health system had not yet been averted.

READ ALSO: Germany moves to relax Covid rules for vaccinated people

The fact that holidays were possible in the summer of 2020 was due to the low infection figures, some of which were in single digits, she said.

Yet Germany won't need to have such low rates this summer, because vaccinations will ease the situation.

But Merkel also admitted that she is not sure when Germany will open its hotels again and allow domestic tourism to flourish.

"That depends on the course of what we are doing at the moment," she said, adding that "more weeks of effort" are needed.

What is clear is that Germany's tourism industry is desperate for a boost and residents want a break from the crisis, whether it's abroad or in Germany.

The government’s tourism commissioner, Thomas Bareiß, said in February he hopes that holidays will be possible again after the Whitsun holidays, around May 24th.

"I hope that by summer most Germans will have been vaccinated and will also be able to travel abroad,” Bareiß told Bild newspaper."