If you dream of going on vacation this summer, wait a bit before making plans. The Minister of Health, Olivier Véran, estimated this week that it would be necessary to wait at least until June 2 to authorize, or not, outings more than 100 kilometers from home. Because of the coronavirus, the summer season is on hold. But tourism professionals are still preparing, as in the Alps, where the resorts adapt to accommodate possible tourists. After an excellent winter season, although truncated at the end, they hope to save their summer.
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Lots of unanswered questions
"We are like everyone else. We have a lot of uncertainty about what will be possible for this summer and what will not be possible," explains Hélène Madec, director of the Megève tourist office, in Haute-Savoie. She does not yet know when the station will open its doors to tourists. "We wonder a lot, especially about welcoming tourists safely. We have to reassure, but at the same time we don't really know where we're going."
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Same questions further south, in Deux-Alpes, in Isère. "We follow government communications. For now, we keep the date of June 6 for the start of the season. Date which was fixed before confinement. But that can change at any time," confesses the mayor of the town, Stéphane Sauvebois. In the meantime, the resort, one of the few where it is possible to ski in the summer on a glacier, is already trying to focus on logistical issues. "It is not easy. How many people can we put in a cable car? It is decisive but we do not know at the moment."
Nature to forget confinement
Pending a date and precise instructions from the authorities, the stations are therefore working on a summer still unclear. But welcoming tourists is one thing. Occupying them is another. "Will we have access to the mountains as we usually know? We will certainly not be able to do major events so we had to rethink our entire summer, that is to say redeploy our entire strategy , rewrite everything, "says Hélène Madec, of the Megève tourist office.
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"Why not rediscover our mountain?"
Canceled festivals, large crowds prohibited, indoor events hardly possible: everything is turned upside down. Instead, the alpine resorts put a strong asset: nature. "We may not have been fully exploiting its potential before," acknowledges Hélène Madec. "Why not rediscover our mountain?" Abounds Stéphane Sauvebois, the mayor of Deux-Alpes, who hopes the arrival of city dwellers in search of large spaces after two months of confinement. "There will be paragliding and all these classic outdoor activities of course. But we may be going to offer others, simpler, with discovery and a ride."
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Rather than activities that concentrate the crowd, Megève plans activities in small groups. "We are perfectly capable of organizing excursions to a maximum of eight in the mountains. For example, going to get fruit, cheese or plants typical of our region, then cook them with a restaurant owner in the city and leave with a souvenir to taste ", illustrates Hélène Madec. "Whatever happens, in Megève, everyone is determined to have a summer season." So optimism. But everywhere the same story: a reopening in June would be welcome.