SEPTEMBER 2021 | 11
NATIONAL
More companies introducing compulsory vaccination Demand for vaccination? Ever since corona vaccination has become available for everyone, there have been various instances in which businesses have required their employees to have compulsory vaccination in order to work, or they have asked proof of full vaccination for customers. For example, several tour companies and an Utrecht dance school, owned by Peter Vlug, refused to accept customers who were not completely vaccinated. Alex Geert Castermans, Professor of Civil Law at Leiden University, states that if the establishment belongs to a person, then they refuse entry. Casterman adds that if someone owns a dance school, for example, they are under no obligation to enter into a contract with unvaccinated people. Contract law gives entrepreneurs a lot of latitude, as long as they don’t discriminate or break privacy laws. Gerrard Boot, a Leiden Professor of Employment Law, states that it is not possible for an employer to demand to see a vaccination certificate, as this would undermine the privacy law (GDPR) that protects employees data. Human Rights institutes support this further as they believe employees cannot be fired for refusing to show a vaccine certificate. Additionally, an employee cannot require an employer to vaccinate other employees,
despite the fact that an employee has the right to a safe work environment. Health Minister Hugo de Jonge stated: “We do not want a vaccination obligation, not even an indirect one. People should never feel compelled to prove they have been vaccinated.” In the run-up to the elections, the outgoing cabinet’s liberal wing argued that those who had been vaccinated should be given additional liberties. Other political parties have spoken against vaccinations as a way to get more liberties. They spoke against direct and indirect compulsory vaccination. MP Joba van den Berg states that it “is desirable that entrepreneurs and companies do their best to offer people alternatives to a vaccination requirement.” An I&O Research study in July 2020 revealed that 12 percent of Dutch people who do not want to be vaccinated do so mainly out of mistrust about the vaccine and its long-term consequences. Vaccination is a choice? To further reinforce the notion of vaccination as a choice, article eleven of the Dutch constitution states the right to inviolability of the body. Article eight of the European Convention on Human Rights states that every person has the right to determine his own physical integrity. However, according to individuals involved
in travel companies, full vaccination is requested for employees and travellers, since it makes everyone feel safer. Camping expert ACSI, which is organizing roughly forty group trips throughout Europe for Dutch and German campers this year, is one of the companies requiring immunization. “Both tour guides and participants indicated that they think it is important that everyone is vaccinated. Then, you have to make a choice. If we hadn’t done it, we would have had more cancellations. The choice is more or less imposed on us by our customers and staff,” says manager Pieter Melieste. The Ministry of Health opposes businesses implementing their own corona policies. On the other hand, “we will not judge that this is not permitted,” a spokeswoman added. It’s still uncertain whether a vaccination requirement is lawful in this country. On this, legal scholars disagree. Some professors believe that, an alternative, such as a negative test result, should always be an option. Others stress the autonomy of businesses in determining what constraints they impose on customers. With the considerably more contagious Delta version, the proportions are unquestionably different. Experts believe that if a vaccinated person contracts this variant, they will spread it more quickly. As a result, the United States is
reconsidering making it compulsory for vaccinated people to wear a face mask. Even vaccinated people are likely to carry a large amount of Delta virus particles for the first few days, although this amount decreases quickly compared to unvaccinated people. “Delta has changed the rules of the game during the match,” says Martijn Luijsterburg, DNA researcher at the Leiden University Medical Centre. “The question is whether a super spreader spreads much less virus after vaccination,” says Luijsterburg. “We do not know that. The bottom line is that vaccination does not offer a guarantee against infection.” Written by Nicole Kerr
Holidays abroad dropped by half in 2020 In 2020, the number of holidays by Dutch people abroad fell to 11.7 million. This was 11.2 million less than in 2019. The reason for this, of course, are the lockdown measures and border closures during the pandemic, that have severely affected the hospitality industry. This fall in the tourism figures had a serious impact on the economy, as it lowered tourism spending from 22.5 billion euros in 2019 to 10.3 billion euros in 2020. In 2020, 1.4 billion overnight stays were spent in tourist accommodation in European countries. That was 52 per cent less than the previous year. The figures related to both business and holiday bookings and both domestic and foreign tourists More holidays in the Netherlands Unlike countries like Cyprus, Greece and Malta, that saw a decline in their tourism industry of over 70 per cent, the statistics have shown that the number of summer holidays in the Netherlands rose from 9.9 to 10.5 million, which
was an increase of 6 per cent in 2020 as compared to 2019. However, those to foreign destinations fell sharply from 13.7 to 4.4 during the same period. This was a 67 per cent decrease. Specifically, Groningen, Drenthe and Overijssel saw an increase in the number of Dutch holidaymakers by 100,000 compared to 2019. Zeeland accounted for an increase of 185,000 while Friesland and South Limburg were both able to accommodate more than 200,000. However, the largest decline in domestic tourism occurred in North Brabant and Flevoland. In 2020, these provinces received 160,000 and 75,000 respectively, fewer than the figures of 2019. On the other hand, there was a fall of almost 60 per cent in the number of foreigners who came to visit the Netherlands, attributed especially to tourists from outside of Europe.
More holidays indoors than outdoors During the 2020 summer holiday, more Dutch tourists spent their time indoors. 30 per cent, or 660,000 tourists, spent their holidays in a hotel, while 11 per cent spent theirs in a holiday home. The number of holidays in a motorhome grew to 140,000, accounting for an increase of 68 per cent over the previous year, while the number of holidays spent in mobile homes fell by 17 per cent. Camping fell by 11 per cent and the use of group accommodations fell by a whopping 70 per cent. Increase of booking in advance In the summer of 2020, the number of Dutch holidaymakers who had booked in advance grew by 7.5 per cent, from 6.4 million in 2019. Most bookings were done close to the date of departure, with 64 per cent of the bookings done within one month before departure. This was significantly higher compared to 43 per cent of 2019. Most likely, people waited with their bookings until they were sure there would be no corona measures hindering their trips. But with the high demand of holidays within the Netherlands, advance booking was essential. More couples without children The number of domestic holidays where partners travelled together without children grew from 3.2 to 4.1 million, which was 30 per cent higher than the previous year. Clearly, some people needed a break from homeschooling their children! However, the number of Dutch tourists who went on their summer holiday alone fell from 520,000 in 2019 to 660,000 in 2020. This was a decrease of more than 20 per cent. Written by Stephen Swai
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