The newest blow to Germany's suffering hospitality and tourism industry comes in the form of a new "2G+" restriction on who can enter bars and restaurants, imposed last week by mutual agreement of State and Federal governments.

Quoting from the English version of the German federal government website last week:

"The Länder [states] will soon implement new access regulations for eating and drinking establishments. Visits to restaurants and cafés will then only be possible for vaccinated and recovered persons who are able to present a same-day test, and for those who have received a booster jab (“2GPlus”). The latter do not have to present an additional test – and there is no waiting period from the day of receiving the booster vaccination.

The reason for this stricter ruling is that masks are frequently not worn in eating and drinking establishments, so there is a greater a risk of infection with the Omicron variant. Federal Chancellor Scholz described this as a strict but necessary regulation that would “help us control infections more effectively than we are doing at the moment.”

Ingrid Hartges, MD of German Hotel and Restaurant Association DEHOGA, said that she fears the new restrictions will result in further revenue losses for businesses in her industry, on top of a nearly 42% drop in sales recorded between January and October 2021.

Smaller restaurants and city business hotels are expected to be most negatively impacted by the new restrictions.

As of the end of 3Q2021, 82,000 German hospitality employees were out of work.