In a few hours, on March 14 and 15, all of the ski resorts in France found themselves completely empty of all tourists. This relatively brutal decision due to the coronavirus crisis cut the activity of the entire chain in the massifs by several weeks, when it expected to end the season with the Easter holidays or mid-May for stations at altitude.
According to the first estimates of Domaines Skiables de France, the shortfall is around 1.5 billion euros in the 250 ski resorts of France. A higher valuation of 1.8 billion euros is even drawn up, for its part, by the national association of mayors of mountain resorts.
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All sectors are heavily affected. Thus, Skiset, world leader in equipment rental with an annual turnover of 400 million euros estimates between 15 and 25% the loss for this season. For the hotel industry, the bill is even heavier. It is estimated that in both Savoy hotels have lost nearly 800,000 overnight stays.
Just in Isère, the loss for hoteliers and restaurateurs, according to Les Echos, is estimated at 90 million euros in total.
There is also the social cost. The many temporary workers working in the ski resorts were also forced to pack their bags. For them, a special agreement will allow seasonal workers' contracts to be maintained despite the closure of companies. They will give the right to the partial activity allowance at 84% of the net salary without remaining dependent for the employers and this until April 15.
A future called into question
Beyond that, the very future of ski resorts, especially at high altitudes, could be called into question. To attract tourists and guarantee quality snow conditions, these resorts are obliged to invest each year in new equipment.
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More than 310 million euros were spent in 2019 in major resorts in the Northern Alps. In Les Echos, Alexandre Maulin, the president of Domaines Skiables de France thus assesses the average loss at 15% of turnover and up to 20-25% for mountain resorts with a loss of 85 to 90 million d 'euros. Under these conditions, the stations in the coming months will have to make arbitrations by probably reducing investments for the coming years to be able to stay afloat.
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Mountain players have already alerted Matignon to the situation to request support measures. Still according to Les Echos, one of the tracks would be the abandonment by the State of certain social and fiscal debts.
