The family of German lawyers, the Albert family, who had been at home for nearly half a year, couldn't help it.

Novel coronavirus pneumonia in Europe was improved in August. Albert decided one family to travel to Europe outside Germany. At the beginning of September, he just came back to tell the first financial reporter about his travel adventures in a special period.


"During the trip, we encountered the phenomenon that the epidemic situation rebounded in some areas. But Europe's response to the epidemic has been very rapid. When we arrived at the Croatian border, Croatia suddenly became a high-risk area. Without daring to go there with the baby, we changed our route to Slovenia for two days "I heard that the Germans who went to Croatia for their self driving tour were miserable, and when they came back they were blocked at the border from evening till morning."


"As a result, I just finished the nucleic acid test and went out of the door to brush the mobile phone, and found that this year's Christmas market may be cancelled." "The government's caution is understandable, but it's somewhat regrettable," Albert said


What will Germany look like without Christmas market?


In novel coronavirus pneumonia, Shi Shiwei, visiting professor of University of International Business and Economics and Free University Berlin in Beijing, said in a interview with first financial reporter that if Merkel's speech on the new crown pneumonia epidemic was still more optimistic before July, it was because Germany had a view that the epidemic could end in September, but this was seen by German Chancellor Merkel's speech before and after July. It has changed in Germany, and the most important thing now is to deal with the epidemic.


Recently, the epidemic has shown obvious signs of counterattack in Germany. On August 22, 2034 new cases were confirmed in Germany, the largest number of new cases in a single day since the end of April. According to Johns Hopkins University data, as of September 2, Beijing time, Germany has a total of 246011 confirmed cases, including 9318 deaths.


According to the statistics of the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), at present, the six countries with the largest number of reported cases in Europe are Russia, Spain, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Germany. Among them, the confirmed cases in Germany account for 6.7% of the total confirmed cases in Europe.


What will happen to Germany without Christmas market?


Drink a glass of German hot red wine, and then eat gingerbread and black sausage. On the night of December, you can get drunk with your friends, and feel the heat of alcohol and the passion of cold winter night wind.


Such a daily German Christmas season may not exist this year.


Even after the terrorist attacks on the Berlin Christmas market in 2016, Germany did not stop the Christmas market. However, the novel coronavirus pneumonia epidemic this year is so big that it is not enough to let the Christmas market.


A few days ago, Merkel convened German governors to discuss epidemic prevention measures and hoped to cancel all major activities before the end of 2020, including Christmas market.


Earlier, in order to prevent further spread of the epidemic, Cologne, a landmark in the Christmas market, has announced the cancellation of the Christmas market in front of Cologne cathedral this year. The Christmas market, originally scheduled to open at the end of November, is the largest Christmas market in Germany, attracting about 5-6 million tourists to Roncalli square in front of Cologne Cathedral every year.


After considering various factors such as employment and economic income, the Cologne government thinks that it can not effectively control the social distance problem. Even if the entry restrictions are introduced, it may create another problem: thousands of tourists may crowd in the surrounding streets waiting to enter the Christmas market.


"We have cancelled the Christmas fair and sent a letter to all vendors informing them of the decision," said Monika Flocke, managing director of the Cologne Christmas society


"We spent weeks thinking about how to organize to prevent the spread of the virus, but in the end we couldn't find the right solution." "The Christmas market is too risky and we don't want people to say that the Cologne Christmas market is a hot spot after infection," she said


However, despite Merkel's firm stance, there are other German states that still want to "fight" with the federal government again. According to reports, Oliver Schenk, director of the minister's office in Germany's Saxony state, said: "these markets will be different from those we know at present." The state also asked Merkel to promise not to cancel the Christmas market this year. In Saxony, striezelmarkt is one of the oldest Christmas markets in Germany. At ordinary times, the market is always full of people, drinking hot red wine, looking at souvenirs and snack stands. Christmas market is also an important source of service trade income for many German states and cities.


According to the German Artists Association (DSB), the Christmas market in Germany attracts about 160 million tourists annually, bringing in more than 3.5 billion US dollars in revenue.


Earlier, Germany has cancelled this year's Munich Beer Festival. Munich Beer Festival, which lasts 16 days, is the largest beer festival in the world, attracting about 6 million tourists from all over the world. According to the statistics of Munich, the economic output value of Munich Beer Festival in 2019 is 1.23 billion euro.


The newly released unemployment figures in Germany are more or less able to understand the concerns of some officials in less developed areas of Germany. According to the German Bureau of statistics, the number of unemployed in Germany increased by 45500 in August, with the total number of unemployed reaching 2.955 million, the highest level since February 2015.


Carlsten Brzeski, chief economist of ing, told the first financial reporter