Several German newspapers have reported that holidaymakers are cancelling trips to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern due to Alternative für Deutschland’s (AfD) local success in the recent federal election. Is it true?
The tabloid newspaper Bild has reported that hotels in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are seeing a “wave of cancellations” due to local support for the AfD. The northern federal state on the Baltic Sea is home to multiple popular German domestic tourism destinations, such as Rügen and Usedom.
Bild’s claim is based on an interview with the President of the German Hotel Restaurant Association (Dehoga), Lars Schwarz, which was initially published in the Ostsee Zeitung. The local newspaper quoted the president as saying, “Every day, [Dehoga] members tell me that guests are cancelling because of the AfD.” Schwarz is also the CDU mayor for the city of Gnoien.
In the February 23 federal election, the far-right, populist party won every constituency in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, taking 35 percent of the overall vote in the state. However, it is yet unclear whether this result has directly impacted tourism.
In a subsequent interview with FOCUS, Schwarz said he had been misquoted and that he had been discussing “the general political situation and not specifically the AfD” and was "amazed at what had been put in his mouth". Schwarz explained that people often complain to Dehoga about the political situation in Germany, “But we don’t know whether these people have actually booked a hotel. Nor do we know whether they have cancelled anything.”
It remains to be seen if the federal election result in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern will impact tourism for the summer season. For now, sudden illness or bad weather are among the more common reasons for holidaymakers to cancel their trips to the region.
However, several anecdotal reports suggest some are thinking twice about their regular destination. According to the Ostsee Zeitung, Berndt Herrgott, owner of the hotel Strandhus in Usedom, was told by a prospective guest, “We wanted to holiday at our favourite hotel in March. Unfortunately, we don’t want to anymore. We’ll probably have to avoid Swinemünde and the Baltic Sea in Schleswig-Holstein.”
In further correspondence, the guest confirmed to Herrgott that the AfD’s increased local popularity motivated the cancellation. Another regular guest cancelled her visit during a phone call with Herrgott, explaining that she “no longer felt safe” to visit Usedom with her husband, who is Black.
“The AfD’s result in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern is terrifying to us,” a man from Kiel told Herrgott, “Mathematically, every third person voted for the party. We want to give a clear signal by staying away.”
Responding to a Tagesspiegel survey on the topic, reader Sylvia N said, “I usually travel to the Baltic Sea four times a year, [but] I don’t feel comfortable when the majority have right-wing extremist politics." Reader Peter H agreed, explaining that for him and his wife, who is from Africa, holidays in the AfD region are no longer an option because of “stares and monkey imitations”.
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