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Austria to reopen border with Germany for visits and shopping

The Local Austria
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Austria to reopen border with Germany for visits and shopping
Bavaria's State Premier Markus Söder (L) and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz give a statement to media after talks at the customs office in Bad Reichenhall, southern Germany, on the Austrian border, on October 9, 2020, amid the new coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Sven Hoppe / POOL / AFP)

People from Bavaria will be able to pop over the border into Austria and vice versa to visit friends and relatives from Wednesday, Bavaria's Minister Markus Söder and Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz have announced.

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People will once again be able to travel between Bavaria in Germany and Austria to visit friends or relatives or go cross-border shopping from Wednesday, May 12th. 

The news was announced by Bavaria's Minister Markus Söder during a visit by Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz to Munich on Tuesday.

The opening will occur one week before tourism is due to open up in both Bavaria and Austria.

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In Austria, hotels and restaurants will open on May 19th, while Bavaria will open up tourism on May 21st. The seven-day incidences of both regions are promising, Austria's was less than 100 on Tuesday, while Bavaria 's stands at 116.

Austria's Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the border region between Austria and Bavaria was "interwoven unlike hardly any other region in Europe", and said he was looking forward to the borders opening again.

Bavaria Minister Markus Söder said tourism in Austria would be possible for Germans from the Whitsun holidays, providing the emergency brake was not needed.

He said Bavaria and Austria were "close friends and partners", who had both been "badly affected" by the coronavirus pandemic, concluding that both countries were now "on a long home stretch".

 

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