The Italian ski resort of Cervinia, which lies below the Matterhorn, was forced to shut a day after opening last month as pictures of hundreds of queuing skiers ignoring social-distancing went viral.
Since that setback, the Alpine ski season barely underway has been further thrown into turmoil by lockdown measures rippling across the continent, shutting slopes in France and Italy and keeping most would-be visitors to the region at home until at least December.
The pandemic has left the lift companies, hotels, bars and instructors that make up the $33 billion Alpine ski business, which employs hundreds of thousands across the region, bracing for a potentially disastrous winter. Resorts are trying to attract more locals this season, but that won’t make up for the loss of international visitors due to quarantines and lockdowns, according to Laurent Vanat, a ski industry consultant based in Geneva.
“The best outlook would be for the infection rate to decline by Christmas, so we can get on with the season,” said Vanat.
If national lockdowns end as planned next month, then the damage might be manageable as the season only normally enters full swing then. But the industry will still be on edge due to super-spreader outbreaks that ripped through the resorts of Ischgl and Verbier earlier this year, underlining the risks inherent from crowded lifts and apres-ski bars.
On the other side of the mountain from Cervinia, skiers are still carving turns on the glacier above the Swiss resort of Zermatt, but bookings are down. During the summer, overnight stays fell by 40% to 50% from the same period a year earlier, even as the stylish village became the No. 1 holiday destination for Swiss tourists.
Quarantine Challenge
While North American resorts will use reservations to limit lift capacity this winter, most gondolas and telecabines across the Alps still plan to operate as normal when they open. As with other forms of public transport, mask-wearing will be mandatory.
It’s too early to say whether the basic precautions planned by Alpine ski resorts will have to be tightened as the season unfolds, said Didier Trono, a professor of virology and genetics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne.
“It’s not as if we have to lock ourselves away from the snow, but we may have to do it in a way that’s different from before,” said Trono. “If you are skiing alone, then you can do it, but if you’re packed into a telecabine then it becomes more complicated.”
Skiing offers fresh air and an escape from the restrictions elsewhere, while the cable cars rides only take a few minutes, said Laurent Vaucher, chief executive officer of Televerbier, the lift company operating in the storied Swiss resort.