The fifteen ski slopes of Champ du feu, in Alsace, have been opened to sledgers.
-
The Field Of Fire
On Wednesday evening, the Secretary of State for Tourism Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne announced the postponement of the reopening of the ski lifts beyond January 7.
The operators of the stations are hoping for a possible reopening in mid-January or at the latest on the 23rd. But the fear of a blank year is emerging.
A ski resort manager in the Pyrenees who lost 80% of bookings for the 15-day Christmas holiday has already announced a shortfall of 3 million euros.
The date was checked in their calendar.
This Thursday, January 7, the ski resorts were to know if they were entitled to reopen, or not, their ski lifts.
The government has decided to postpone its decision.
The Secretary of State for Tourism Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne announced it on Wednesday evening.
He then invoked "a rather ascending level in terms of new cases (of Covid-19) and resuscitations".
Prime Minister Jean Castex is due to speak at 6 p.m. this Thursday.
In principle, no date for the reopening of the ski lifts should be announced to avoid false hopes such as those based on January 7.
A meeting with mountain professionals could take place after the health defense council, on January 13.
In the meantime, uncertainty mingles with bitterness or incomprehension for the managers of ski resorts in the various French massifs.
In the southern Alps, crowds and snow are there but no one is skiing
"A heartbreak" in the Southern Alps where there is no lack of snow.
“The whole ski area is covered with a thick layer.
It had been over three years since this had happened, ”sighs Jean-Paul Rouquier, director of Gréolières, in the hinterland of Cannes.
While “the resort is as crowded as ever.
Only the carpet and the piou-piou club, for the youngest in ski school, were able to open.
And we are also going to set up a ski lift which will serve a track reserved only for license holders of the "competitors" federation.
"
In the meantime, the financial balance is upset.
Jean-Paul Rouquier, who has had to face several seasons in decline due to the lack of powder, already estimates the losses at nearly 250,000 euros.
A situation that would be truly catastrophic for this small destination in the Préalpes d'Azur without local support.
"The deficits of the resorts in the Alpes-Maritimes will be borne by the communities", assures Charles-Ange Ginésy, the president of the departmental council, 95% financier of the mixed economy company of Gréolières, but also those of Valberg and again of La Colmiane.
While waiting for the possible green light from the government, postponed to January 13, the elected LR says he is "desperate".
“Everything was ready to welcome the skiers.
Our testing centers are functioning.
There have been cases and they have made it possible to avoid clusters.
In the meantime, we see stations where visitors gather in the village squares.
This measure is totally counterproductive.
"In his stronghold of Péone-Valberg, the former mayor Charles-Ange Ginésy asked his successor to take an order requiring the wearing of a mask in the city center" to avoid "the worst.
In the Pyrenees, we wonder "how to meet the deadlines at the end of January"
This Wednesday, the Peyragudes station is empty.
“There is no life, nothing is happening, on the station there are ten cars parked, describes Laurent Garcia, the director of the Hautes-Pyrénées site.
I must have five people working against 140 usually.
To prepare for the weekend, we are going to do a minimum service with the reception of a few kids from the license holders' clubs, we will make a dozen people work.
"
The Pyrenean admits his “bitterness” at not being able to open the ski lifts.
Without a date announced, it is impossible to communicate and the risk of cancellation increases.
“We have quite a few reservations as of January 23, at the height of February we are at 70% against 90% usually.
At Christmas, before the government announcements, we were at about 60-70% bookings, which isn't huge.
After that, we went down to less than 20%.
We lost 80% of reservations in two weeks.
"
"It is often said, thanks to ski resorts, that a euro spent on ski lifts is reflected in the economy in runoff of 7 euros", recalls the manager of the Peyragudes resort.
The fear of the white year is emerging.
On the Christmas holidays, Laurent Garcia estimates “an easy loss of 3 million euros.
Not to mention the cash we would have made on future bookings, sales of advance packages.
Today we have nothing in the box when we should be at 4 million.
It's huge, we do not know today how we will meet the deadlines at the end of January.
"
He does not understand that we are sacrificing the mountain, “open air spaces, not confined, with four people seated in a chairlift”.
In the Vosges, we want to save the February holidays
Overflowing car parks, some blocked access… In Alsace, the Champ du feu was the victim of its success in the aftermath of New Year's Eve.
"Yes, we had a lot of visitors, it was nice, but that's not what we're going to live with", nuance Henri Morel, one of the main shareholders of this resort located about fifty kilometers from Strasbourg.
The fifteen slopes in the area have been groomed for sledgers and other walkers, but the manager would now like to see skiers using them again.
"We are currently in minimal activity and it has nothing to do with a normal season," he continues.
So yes, state aid helps us cushion the shock, but it does not cushion the loans.
For ski instructors, ski lift operators and equipment rental companies, the situation is as serious in the Vosges as it is in the Jura or the Alps.
The problem becomes that uncertainty in which we are left.
"
Henri Morel had thus held his teams ready for a complete reopening "this weekend".
Unlike last year, snow fell on the massif “and we also produced snow to strengthen it”.
“If we postpone the starting signal for a week, it's not too serious but we shouldn't wait until the end of January.
With us, the February holidays represent 50 to 60% of our activity and they are getting ready.
Or we are told that we will remain closed, which I do not want, and we will then put ourselves in a shutdown situation.
»For a second winter in a row very thin.
“As if the 2019 summer season had been extended by 24 months”, underlines the shareholder.
Society
Doubs: Nearly 50 French holidaymakers placed in isolation on their return from Switzerland
Society
Pyrenees: In Andorra, the ski slopes are reopened… But not (yet) for everyone
Toulouse
Lyon
Snow
Nice
Lorraine
Society