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Skiers in Switzerland: What is forbidden in neighboring countries should be allowed here (the Matterhorn in the background)
Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP
On the slope they fire artificial snow from full pipes, in the center of Maria Alm they work.
But in the Hotel Eder, category four-star superior, sits Sepp Schwaiger, Austria's Hotelier of the Year 2019, and says: "It is a tragedy."
The 39-year-old operator of two luxury hostels on the Steinernen Meer has just learned that hotels and restaurants in Austria have to remain closed over Christmas and New Year at the behest of the government.
The son of a long-established family of restaurateurs can thus write off around a quarter of the turnover for the entire winter season.
Sepp Schwaiger's “Exsepptional” dinner has to be avoided at the turn of the year, as well as “Dreierlei Temaki” from the Nepalese sushi master or splashing around in the thermal infinity pool.
For Schwaiger, the extended lockdown feels bitter in several ways: He is not only a hotelier, he is also a tourism chairman, board member of the cable car company and a member of the ÖVP - the party of Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.
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