Dear Sir or Madam The Corona pandemic has paralysed mountain tourism and mountaineering, as well as other activities, and has thus severely affected people who live in and make a living from mountain regions. We sincerely hope that responsible tourism will soon be carefully restored. This includes the permission to re-open mountain huts in order to offer accommodation and regional food to mountaineers as well as to enable the local population to work. Another important measure for a responsible approach to outdoor mountain sports, where the risk of infection is reduced by distance rules easy to follow, is the freedom to travel unhindered again. We ask you to support the regions in their efforts to re-open national borders as soon as possible on the basis of the Schengen Agreement.The Pandemic is by definition something that requires a coordinated response and it is unthinkable that after 60 years of European Integration Process, Member States are not coordinating their policies on border crossing. Not only mountain tourism will benefit from this, but also the European community. There are only a few sports and leisure activities where cohesion and solidarity between Europeans is lived across borders in such a way. Mountaineers can make a major contribution in this respect. For their part, the national mountaineering federations will support and implement all the administrative measures necessary to contain the pandemic. The EUMA offers cooperation in all matters of mountaineering and mountain tourism. Yours sincerely, Roland Stierle - EUMA President
