Fewer French people go skiing in Switzerland with border controls
Audio 01:23
Winter landscape in the village of Morgins (canton of Valais);
French holidaymakers are still present, but in fewer numbers (Illustrative image).
© Flickr.com CC BY 2.0 jsphotography sehet
Text by: RFI Follow
4 min
It's the start of winter holidays for a whole part of France.
And again, the temptation is great for winter sports enthusiasts to go to Switzerland where the slopes are open.
This is the case in Morgins, a resort in the canton of Valais located five minutes by car from Haute-Savoie.
But, Covid-19 obliges, French holidaymakers hesitate more and more before crossing the border.
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With our correspondent in Switzerland,
Jérémie Lanche
The weather is raining.
But that does not prevent Thomas from renting ski equipment to holidaymakers who crowd in front of the lifts.
Even if the French are much less numerous than at Christmas: “
It has calmed down well at the French level, much less people.
There are more border controls, so there are far fewer French people coming
”.
Mandatory negative PCR test
If exceptions exist, French skiers must indeed present a negative PCR test less than 3 days before returning to France.
What to discourage a lot, as Camille Renevier explains.
She runs a real estate agency in Morgins: “
We have a lot of phone calls every day to see the situation, how we can come to an agreement, how we can see what will happen next, if there are any who push back, who do not. will not come.
Unfortunately, it is very undecided
”.
A few ski enthusiasts still made the trip.
With the PCR test in your pocket.
Like Adrien, who left Lyon early this morning with several friends: “
We would also have liked to spend our money at home.
But hey, we come to spend it here.
We are not going to deprive ourselves because the French politician has decided to close the French ski resorts
”.
Five minutes from Morgins, on the French side, the mayor of the Châtel station, Nicolas Rubin tries to see the good side of the opening of stations in Switzerland: “
There are people who book here and paradoxically, we even have a Swiss clientele who come to book small chalets here to be able to go skiing at home on the other side
”.
But on both sides of the border, the filling rate of stations is clearly declining.
In Châtel, it should not exceed 50% for the holidays.
►Also read: Covid-19: British quarantined in a Swiss ski resort flee
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