Autrans (France) (AFP)

The ski lifts will not reopen on Thursday.

The French ski resorts, disappointed, however still hope to be able to save the February holidays, crucial for their fragile economy.

The decision finally fell on Wednesday evening: while more than 25,000 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded in the last 24 hours in France, the ski lifts will not reopen on Thursday as was initially envisaged, told the AFP Secretary of State for Tourism Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne.

"We are fed up, we need a firm and definitive date and we need to stop walking", reacted to AFP the president of the National Association of Mayors of Mountain Stations (ANMSM), Jean- Luc Bloch.

"You have the right to take the plane, the train, the metro, but the mountains are dangerous? We no longer understand", he squeaked, believing that confidence was "lost".

Same disappointment on the side of the president of Domaines skiables de France, Alexandre Maulin: "We are blind in the fog as to the survival of our economic model", with "already an economic disaster", in particular because of the absence of the foreign customers.

In a statement earlier this week, Domaines skiables de France (DSF) had already urged the government "to take action and make decisions".

"It is the uncertainty which is the most delicate", advance Éric Bouchet, director of the tourist office of Deux Alpes (Isère).

"In order for the season to prepare, we must (...) allow reservations to be taken, prepare the area, the teams and organize the recruitment and accommodation of seasonal workers."

"What we would like is that we can consider opening under conditions, for example with a gauge system. But as soon as possible because the highlight is the February holidays", continues Akim Boufaïd , director of the Saint-Lary resort, in the French Pyrenees.

- Bill at 1.5 billion -

In a first progress report of the season, mountain professionals reported this week an occupancy rate in "free fall", citing the loss of turnover for the entire sector at 1.5 billion euros over the two weeks of Christmas holidays.

In Saint Lary, where the drop in reservations is close to 40% over the Christmas fortnight, the account for the lifts is clear: "zero activity and zero turnover. It is all the more annoying and frustrating that it was two years since we had not had so much snow, ”explains Akim Boufaïd.

Mr. Bouchet indicates that despite lower attendance than expected, revenues at Les Deux Alpes have fallen by 99%.

"You can snowshoe, toboggan, hike, but all this is free and still entails costs for the resort: maintenance and grooming of the slopes, organization of rescue, preventive triggering of avalanches, shuttles, snow removal ... "

In the Vercors, where tourism fell by half during the holidays, professionals believe that the resorts have "limited the breakage" with a diversification of activities historically more anchored than elsewhere in the Alps.

- January 20 or nothing -

"The most important thing is that we have a definitive date, which cannot be later than January 20," said Mr. Bouchet, from Les Deux Alpes.

"If not, it could mean not opening in February, and by domino effect not reopening for the season."

"We really have a feeling of discrimination. Today, the anti-Covid-19 protocols developed with the prefects are relevant, with the implementation of tests, requisitioned accommodation for isolation, and protocols for access to lifts. And then in Isère, it was established that less than 10 people are likely to go down to intensive care, for us the question is not that of trauma ", he continues.

"At four weeks before the February holidays, the stake is major to restart the stations, deprived of 80% of activity at Christmas", insists Ski areas of France, estimating that the ski is not an activity to risk".

It remains to be seen whether this will be enough to convince Emmanuel Macron, who has received from the mayor of Châtel, in Haute-Savoie, two ski passes as a greeting, Dauphiné Libéré reported on Tuesday.

bp-cca-cor-ktr / soe / dlm

© 2021 AFP