After a surge in cases this fall dashed hopes of a normal festive season this year, authorities across the continent have tightened restrictions to avoid overwhelming hospitalizations. The hope that the highly permeable Omicron version will be on hold soon is further raising fears.
For families and businesses around the region, that means trips to gatherings, festivals and holidays are being reduced or canceled altogether. Instead of shopping for gifts, Europeans line up for their booster shots.
The UK government, which recently imposed a number of Omicron-related restrictions, says the number of Omicron cases is doubling every two days. The country on Wednesday reported its highest number of Covid-19 cases since the pandemic began. Denmark and Norway this week imposed new restrictions on nightlife. France has closed its nightclubs and said it would restrict tourist arrivals from Britain from Saturday. In Germany, politicians are debating whether to make vaccinations mandatory, following the example of neighboring Austria, where shots will become mandatory from February.
“I can imagine how many of you are saddened, like me, to learn that this Christmas is once again being hit by the pandemic,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday.
In the US, Omicron has been identified in more than 30 states, from Hawaii to New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In California, officials this week reinstated an indoor mask mandate.
Across Europe, tighter restrictions and new uncertainties are affecting populations already tired of the virus. In some German provinces, traditional Christmas markets have been closed and the country has banned crackers and large gatherings for New Year’s Eve. In Paris, the Elysee Palace canceled its holiday party, while cities in the rest of France are calling off Christmas concerts.
Cath Colebridge, 50, who works at a primary school in the South Wales village of Cephan Cribber, said she and her husband had to cancel their Christmas break in Spain after the hotel closed. It was his sixth canceled vacation during the pandemic, which included a trip to New York delayed three times due to changing rules.
“I am very disappointed that they keep changing the travel rules,” Ms Colebridge said. “Now that we’ve given up planning vacations abroad and bought a camper van, we can get away for at least a few days.”
In Fleetwood, northern England, Rick Gilby, the president of the local football team’s fan club, was planning a Christmas party where local children would meet football players. Mr Gilby, 50, had already bought candy boxes for the children and the club’s mascot, Captain Cod, was to attend.
On Monday, Mr Gilby posted a message on the fan club’s Facebook page: “Christmas has been cancelled.”
“We felt like we were getting back to normal, we were doing all we could and yet you keep getting these knock backs,” he said later. “And we’re always getting these additional measures around Christmastime. It’s deflating.”
In Berlin, about 1,000 miles east, the virus disappointed another group of football fans. For years, supporters of 1. FC Union Berlin gathered at the Stadion an der Alten Forsterei, or the old forester’s home stadium, to hold candles and sing Christmas songs.
Now, as in last year, the stadium will be “silent and dark again on 23 December,” the club wrote on its website.
In Berlin’s Pankow district, Rosa Luxembourg High School has asked students to take back hot plates and waffle makers brought to school before the annual Christmas market after the event was cancelled. The school orchestra’s annual concert, which usually takes place in a church, will go on without an audience and will be streamed on Zoom.
Other Christmas traditions are being disrupted.
After postponing its 25th anniversary last year, the Christmas Circus in the southern German city of Offenburg once again called off its performances this year. On the Greek peninsula of Halkidiki, local authorities canceled public gatherings because of the high number of infections. According to a statement, officials, however, plan to decorate communities in recognition of “the psychological need of young and old to celebrate the spirit of Christmas.”
In Les Pikes in northern France, local authorities are requiring organizers to surround Christmas markets with a perimeter fence and keep guards at entry points to check people’s vaccine certificates.
“There were many conditions that were not possible for a union like ours,” said Valentin Bourdet, who heads the local business group of Les Pieux and canceled the local market. “It’s disappointing.”
Daily cases in France hit an all-time high earlier this month, and officials said it was possible that cases could remain at near-record levels in the coming weeks.
The virus has also knocked in nursing homes. Several hundred facilities across France have been closed again, said Sabrina Deliri, who represents a union of family members of nursing home residents. This is raising the possibility that some residents will spend a second consecutive Christmas separated from their families.
“Like in the first wave, these facilities have been completely shut down, visits have been suspended, residents confined to their rooms,” said Ms Deliri.
In some places, cancellations happen even after the holidays. The opera said that the grand Vienna Opera Ball in February—the highlight of the Austrian society season that takes place in the Neo-Renaissance building of the Vienna State Opera House—was over amid growing uncertainty among guests about the Omicron version.
The hospitality industry has been hit by snowballing cancellations across Europe ahead of the holidays.
In the UK, trade association UKHospitality said on Monday that take-offs at hospitality venues this month will be around 40% lower than preendemic levels. In Germany, nine out of 10 restaurants, hotels and other hospitality businesses have reported canceling Christmas parties, according to industry association Dehogga.
Guido Jolic, president of the association, said, “The condition of the hospitality industry is getting worse day by day. Companies have experienced a huge wave of cancellations. Many could no longer operate financially.”
Back in the Welsh countryside, Ms Colebridge hopes: with her trip to Spain cancelled, her husband can dress up as Santa and visit children from around the village. Now she is hoping to reach New York in February.
Write to Georgi Kantchev at georgi.kantchev@wsj.com and Matthew Dalton at Matthew.Dalton@wsj.com.
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