Excerpts from an interview with His Excellency Jean Claude Kugener, Ambassador of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg to India:
Indeed, Luxembourg has always been a popular destination but the country and the tourism industry have been severely affected by the current global pandemic. As tourism represents approximately 9 percent of the country’s GDP, the government and the ministry of tourism in particular have taken a number of measures to support this sector and its actors during these challenging times.
The Luxembourg government has launched the next phase of its strategy to partially lift the national lockdown on 11 May, allowing all shops, libraries, museums, among others, to start operating again following clear sanitary rules and social distancing recommendations. It is foreseen that the restaurants, bars and café’s will be able to reopen again beginning of June. My country had been severely hit by this pandemic and the state of emergency had to be declared. A few days ago, the government decided to distribute 50 free masks to every citizen on 25 May. Taking into consideration all these measures, I am therefore confident that the situation is going to improve progressively during the summer if the people follow the social distancing and other recommendations.
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a cosmopolitan country located in the heart of Europe with a thousand-year-old multicultural capital and different regions each with their very own characteristics. And the Indian travellers are particularly impressed by its diversity. Due to its geological location, Luxembourg is home to an array of different landscapes, which include the dense woodlands and valleys of the Ardennes, the fascinating rock formations of the Mullerthal region and the region of the 'Red Rocks' with its former mining landscapes as well as the vineyards of the Moselle region or Schengen, a small wine-producing town in the Southeastern part of Luxembourg in the 3-Border-Region with Germany and France, where the “Schengen Agreement” was signed in 1985.
As there are no direct flights from India, all major international airlines cover Luxembourg with transit flights. At the consulate we have noticed a significant increase in our numbers and at the end of last year, New Delhi became the number one Luxembourg consulate in the world in terms of Schengen visa applications. The business and long-term visas represent quite a considerable part in our statistics, but the short-term visas in the categories of tourism and visiting family and friends represents approximately 40 percent of all visas delivered in 2019. Let me highlight as well the increasing number of Indian citizens living and working in Luxembourg, an increase in 20,5% in comparison to 2019. The Indians rank 14th among the foreign nationals living in the Grand Duchy, compared to 15th in 2019 and 27th in 2015. We remain quite optimistic regarding the trend in all our statistics for the years to come.
The origins of Luxembourg, the only remaining Grand Duchy in the world, go back to 963 when Count Siegfried acquired a castellum on a rocky outcrop, which he named ‘Lucilinburhuc’, the “small castle”, which developed over the centuries. In the 14th century, Luxembourg was one of the most influential dynasties in Europe and three consecutive Emperors ruled over the Holy Roman Empire. The tourists can discover many historical sites in the capital by discovering 1000 years of Luxembourg’s history in 180 minutes during the ‘Wenzel Circular Walk’, one among many walks organised by the Luxembourg City Tourist Office.
The remains of the centuries old fortifications are among the many tourist attractions called the Casemates with 17km of underground tunnels. It offers panoramic views of this unique setting between tradition and modernity. The fortifications and old quarters of the capital have been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1994. A beautiful ‘UNESCO Bike Tour’ of approximately 9,5 km offers the tourists to discover the architectural and technological urban landscape that beautifully illustrates this significant period in Luxembourg’s history.
In the north of the country, I particularly like the “Family of Man” exhibition in the castle in Clervaux. A legendary photographic exhibition initiated by the Luxembourg born and renowned American photographer Edward Steichen who, as a director of photography at the MoMA initiated this manifesto for peace and the fundamental equality of mankind via the humanist photography of the post war years in 1955 made up of 503 photographies by 273 artists from 68 countries. The exhibition toured the world and was on display in over 150 museums worldwide before its final version was permanently installed in the castle in 1994.
Despite the size of the country, Luxembourg is marked by its diversity, which every tourist can discover in the various regions, from the Valley of the castles to the industrial heritage. But Luxembourg is also a true paradise for mountain bikers with a wide choice of mountain bike tracks and trails in the various regions. The Red Rock Mountain Bike Trail, for example, guides cyclists on the traces of Luxembourg’s industrial and historical past through former open iron ore mines in protected nature reserves.
The Mullerthal Region is one of the most popular hiking regions in the country. Some spectacular award winning hiking trails or circular walks are in this region with breathtaking landscapes, ancient ruins and picturesque villages. All these regions are easy accessible particularly as Luxembourg became the world’s first country to make public transport free two months ago.
For the tourists interested in arts and architecture, I recommend to visit Kirchberg, part of the capital, where modern and contemporary works of art and sculptures in public spaces meet unique architecture and designs created by world famous architects. The Contemporary Art Museum Mudam represents an excellent link with the past and present. Designed by the famous Sino-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei, the architecture of the museum is a true dialogue between the natural and historical context of this site as it neighbours the museum ‘Dräï Eechelen’ with its permanent exhibition illustrating the country’s history in the restored keep of Fort Thüngen or the Philharmonic Concert Hall designed by Christian de Portzamparc.
I wish to highlight that the agency ‘Luxembourg for Tourism’ has published a new magazine ‘Luci’ with inspiring travel stories. Passionate writers and photographers share their stories of encounters with people and places, around the past, present and future of the Grand Duchy. The new magazine presents nice insights in Luxembourg’s everyday life and the tourism industry.
In the 18th century, Luxembourg was an agricultural country plagued by years of famine and recurring epidemics with small businesses and industries and some 60% of the active population worked in agriculture. In 1839, Luxembourg gained its independence and in the mid-19th century with the discovery of iron ore deposits in the south of the country became the birthplace of the steel industry, which contributed to the wealth of the country. On the eve of the First World War, Luxembourg ranked among the world’s six largest producers and is today home to the global Headquarters of ArcelorMittal.
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Luxembourg’s participation in the European integration process was crucial in taking into consideration the importance of its steel industry. In 1952, the capital became the temporarily seat of the ‘European Coal and Steel Community’, later to become today’s European Union. Luxembourg remains one of the three European capitals hosting many European institutions from the European Investment Bank to the European Court of Justice, the Court of Auditors to EUROSTAT, the statistical office of the EU. A strong believer in multilateralism and the importance of a peaceful nation, region and continent build through unity, Luxembourg became a founding member of all the major international organisations, the BeNeLux Union, the UN and UNESCO, OECD, the Council of Europe, NATO and the OECD. It is not without surprise that the Schengen Agreement, creating a Europe without borders, was signed in the small wine-producing town of Schengen bordering France and Germany in 1985.
From a small banking centre in the early 20th century, the oldest banking institution was created in 1856, Luxembourg gradually grew into an international Financial centre. It developed and specialised over the decades and Luxembourg is today among the top 3 financial centres in the EU with a AAA credit rating and the 2nd Investment Fund Centre in the world, to name but these figures. The Luxembourg Stock Exchange listed the first ever Eurobond in 1963, the world’s first green bond in 2007 and the first listing of a dim sum bond in Europe in 2011. In 2016, the world’s first Green Exchange, a dedicated platform for green, social and sustainable securities, was created. Luxembourg is among others the most important hub for cross-border RMB business in Europe and the EU hub for the 7 major Chinese Banks. Since two decades, the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, the worldwide leader in the listing of international securities, works with the Bombay Stock Exchange. The first Masala Bond was listed in Luxembourg in 2008.
Since the steel crisis in the 1970s, Luxembourg’s economy diversified from Space, with the creation of the “Société Européenne de Satellites (SES)”, the world leader in operational satellites, or the recent launch of the “Space Resources”, to Logistics with the establishment of Cargolux Airlines, Europe’s biggest all-cargo airline or the impressive development of Amazon’s European Headquarters. In the Automotive sector, Luxembourg developed to a leading business hub for innovation and smart mobility with global component suppliers such as Delphi, Goodyear, IEE and CEBI having European Sales and R&D headquarters in the Grand Duchy. In the ITC sector, the country developed into a globally recognised hub and further positions itself as a centre of excellence in cybersecurity and data protection: “Digital Luxembourg” is leading the way to a digital nation, as the country became one of Europe’s top locations for ICT infrastructures (Data-Centres, connectivity and Internet traffic).
I shared this short description of the many facets of Luxembourg in its evolution over the last decades and wished to highlight a range of examples to show that the secret of Luxembourg has always been its multilinguistic diversity and clear visions for the development of the country by its governments in a stable context and the strength of the monarchy and its sovereign His Royal Highness the Grand Duke as a guarantor of the national independence.
As soon as our consulate in Delhi is going to be operational again following the reopening of the 17 VFS Global centres throughout India, the traveller can deposit a Schengen visa application at any of these centers. We had quite a large number of remaining passports in the consulate before the start of the national lockdown and the closure of the consulate and these will be delivered to VFS Global as soon as the operations restart.
For the pending short-term visa requests, we will grant a longer period of validity to each of the applicants allowing them to reorganise their travels taking into consideration these special circumstances. A longer validity period will offer a greater flexibility to make new flight reservations, fix new appointments with their business partners or reschedule the visits with their friends or relatives in Luxembourg. For any new visa application submitted after the end of the nationwide lockdown, the rules of the common Schengen Visa Code will apply.
According to the Grand Ducal regulation of 18 March 2020 introducing a series of measures in the fight against the virus, third country nationals staying currently in Luxembourg with a short-term visa, which would expire during the lockdown are regularised for the duration of the state of emergency in Luxembourg until 31 july 2020.
The post-COVID-19 period is still going to be challenging as our daily life and routine are going to be marked by some restrictions and the importance of social distancing will remain for some time. In Luxembourg, the government from an early stage implemented restrictive measures that are going to be lifted slowly with the overall improvement of the situation and the reduction of new cases. Our national carrier LUXAIR has suspended all flight operations until 30 May 2020 and we are going to see a gradual return in operations in the beginning of June. Each traveller needs to plan in advance and take into consideration all these aspects and restrictions before starting the travel journey.
Already before the start of the national lockdown on 25 March, I reduced the Embassy staff to its absolute minimum in order to continue our daily consular and Embassy related work. With my small team and the assistance of our Honorary Consuls, we have assisted many stranded Luxembourg tourists in India. From consular enquiries to repatriation flight assistance, transport and hotel booking complications and continued problem solving exceeded by far the office working hours. Being co-accredited in Nepal and Sri Lanka, we supported and assisted our citizens there as well with a higher involvement of our local Honorary Consuls. A very challenging period particularly for a smaller Embassy but highly rewarding as we could assist so many citizens to return safely home and continue our assistance for the Indian Residency permit holders who live and work in Luxembourg. As the consulate is still closed, we keep on dealing with the daily consular enquiries besides our continued Embassy work.
On a personal note, we are auto-confined in the Embassy, which also hosts the Residence, since the start of the national lockdown, and finally find the time with my wife to read some of the many books we bought during our travels throughout India. A time to reflect as well and catch up with certain projects we didn’t take the time to realise and more time to enjoy cooking new recipes and trying out lovely Indian specialities and simply enjoying staying at home.
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