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Health pass and ski lifts: how ski resorts are preparing

2021-11-26T05:41:21.239Z


With the surge in the incidence rate for Covid-19, the health pass could be required on December 4 to use the ski lifts. Mountain professionals, who had anticipated this constraint, are seeking to limit its impact on skiers.


It's just a matter of days. This Thursday, November 25, the national incidence rate stood at 193 positive Covid-19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The threshold of 200 cases, set by the authorities and from which the health pass will be required to access the ski lifts of ski resorts, is approaching ... The health protocol which applies to the 250 French domains provides that an announcement official be made "

no later than Tuesday for the following Saturday

", reminds Domaines skiables de France. A ministerial decree should therefore most certainly be published in the coming days for application from Saturday, December 4.

People 12 years of age and over will need a vaccination certificate, a certificate of recovery (positive test less than six months) or a negative test less than 24 hours, while wearing a mask will be required to use cable cars or chairlifts.

A measure that is ultimately not very restrictive, given a high vaccination rate (90% of the eligible French population is fully vaccinated), and a use that has now become a habit, for dining at a restaurant or taking the train for example.

Read alsoSkiing: ski resort opening dates this winter 2021-2022

Random checks in the queues ...

"

We expected this threshold of 200 to be crossed during the season, but not for it to happen so soon

," says Jacques Alvarez, marketing and communication director of Altiservice, the operator of the Saint-Lary estates. (Hautes-Pyrénées) and Font-Romeu Pyrénées 2000 (Pyrénées-Orientales).

Checks will be systematic at the ticket office when the ski passes are collected, and random in the queues of the ski lifts

. ”

"

We were getting ready for it, it's not a surprise,

" continues Frédéric Porte, general manager of Tignes (Savoie), the first ski area to open in France, on October 16.

The government having committed to granting a period of several days, mountain professionals will be able to implement the protocol without being caught off guard.

"Here too, random checks, carried out by the station staff or the police, may take place in the queues of the ski lifts,"

in the manner of what is done in the station and on board. long-distance trains

”.

Read alsoSkiing and Covid-19: wearing a compulsory mask, distancing ... What the health protocol provides

... only on certain ski lifts

But the verification of the health pass will not be done everywhere and all the time. “

Structuring ski lifts, like those leaving from stations, will be checked as a priority and regularly. Those which are located at altitude will be less frequently, because the skiers will have logically already been checked further downstream,

”explains Olivier Simonin, director of Val d'Isère Téléphériques (the Val d'Isère resort opens this Saturday, November 27).

To reassure skiers or allow unvaccinated people to renew their health pass during their stay, most mountain resorts will be equipped with screening centers.

We have installed two test centers, compared to only one last winter.

They will be operational as soon as the resort opens on December 4,

”recalls Gilles Leonard, director of Méribel Tourisme.

The validity period of the tests, which now goes from 72 to 24 hours as the Minister of Health announced on Thursday, will force the stations to organize themselves accordingly to meet demand.

Read also From Megève to Menuires, the new mountain hotels to test this winter

A health pass coupled with the ski pass?

To facilitate the stay for skiers and prevent them from taking out their smartphone at each check, tourism professionals are looking for a solution. “

We are considering ways to visually identify skiers whose sanitary pass has already been verified,

” explains Jacques Alvarez (Altiservice).

Among the devices under study, a bracelet that would be given on arrival at the resort and that would be kept for the duration of the stay.

In Tignes as in Val d'Isère, we can even imagine a system allowing you to combine your health pass with your ski pass, as SNCF and Air France are already doing.

"

We are working with our ticketing partners on the implementation of such a device, but it will undoubtedly not be operational for the Christmas holidays

", emphasizes Olivier Simonin.

Beyond the technical aspect, the deployment of such a system comes up against questions of respect for personal data.

Read alsoSkiing: these French resorts easily accessible by train

Like tourism professionals, skiers seem ready to come to terms with this new constraint.

77% of French holidaymakers say they want to maintain their stay despite the obligation of the health pass, indicates a barometer of Savoie Mont Blanc on departure intentions, published at the end of September.

Only 9% could postpone it and 8% shorten it.

Not enough to discourage foreign visitors either.

Méribel benefits from a significant transfer of German customers, used to Austrian ski resorts,

” observes Gilles Léonard.

No doubt a consequence of the confinement in force in Austria which disrupts the start of the winter season.

Source: lefigaro

All news articles on 2021-11-26

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