The ski industry is battling to cope with the fallout from the sudden shutdown of resorts across the Alps, where the season has ended four weeks early.
Many operators were already struggling to deal with the uncertainties of Brexit, and the loss of the key Easter peak period will add to the pressure.
“We are totally exhausted,” the managing director of one UK-based operator admitted last week. “I’m not sure all ski companies will survive given the huge financial hit we have taken.”
Last weekend, operators faced a dramatic rush to repatriate 30,000 British skiers almost as soon as they had arrived in the Alps. Tour operators had been given no warning of the impending lockdown and had told customers it was business as usual. Then came the news that businesses in Swiss resorts, including most restaurants, bars, clubs and shops, would have to close on Friday night, and those in France at midnight on Saturday. Hotels and ski lifts closed the following day.
Hundreds of British skiers are still trying to make it back from the Alps. There were chaotic scenes on Tuesday in the area around Geneva airport, the major ski hub close to the French-Swiss border. Increased border checks for airport staff as well as travellers, heavy traffic and road closures meant some travellers missed flights home, while other flights were cancelled.
“The traffic around the border added about 50 minutes to our journey, plus there were two checks at the border. Lots of cars were turning around but we made it through,” said Katie McPhee, from London, who was returning by hire car to the airport from Chamonix with her young family. “At the airport, the shops were closed and they were waiving the usual policies of having liquids in plastic bags and laptops out of luggage.” One of her friends missed her flight home to London, where her children were being looked after by relatives; she eventually managed to find a seat via Zurich.
Others were evacuated back to the UK on 17-hour coach and ferry journeys hastily arranged by tour operator staff, many of whom had worked through the night making arrangements to repatriate their customers.
“It was only on Saturday at 7pm that we found out France was going into ‘lockdown’ and that the industry would need to do an emergency repatriation of the 30,000 guests who had arrived in the Alps that day, followed by the 5,000 staff who had just found out that their season had ended,” said Charles Owen, director of Seasonal Businesses in Travel, a group of 200 British travel businesses, most of them in the ski sector. “It has been an interesting 72 hours to put it mildly.”
By Tuesday night, holiday company TUI said it still had at least 100 skiers waiting to return from France, and other operators noted there were “a few stragglers”. While publicly celebrating the efficiency of their repatriation efforts, many in the industry are privately angry about the lack of official warning or guidance.
“It was a horrific and frightening experience for our customers (and for our staff) and we are rather annoyed at the French for saying they were fully open and intended to stay open until the end of the season on Friday. Then all the guests arrive and Armageddon takes place!” said the managing director of one small ski operator, which takes 4,000 people away to the Alps each year, and didn’t want to be named. “We have been working 24/7 to get customers and staff out and now we are working to help people with insurance claims and issue vouchers for next year.”
As well as those on holiday, thousands of British ski resort workers joined the masses rushing to get home. “It is somewhat in limbo here at the moment as a lot of seasonnaires fled this morning on hearing that borders may close,” said Eliott Gates, founder of the AlpineMojo ski school in the Swiss resort of Nendaz, which links to Verbier.
The industry is now struggling to pick up the pieces during what had already been a tricky season for European resorts. The uncertain implications of Brexit meant many holidaymakers held off booking trips at the start, and operators struggled with what changes to employment laws would mean for an industry heavily dependent on the casual, temporary labour of British seasonnaires.
“I expect that some businesses in the winter holiday industry will not survive this. It has been a huge blow,” said Jon Dredge, owner of More Mountain, a chalet company in the French resort of Morzine.
Resorts in Italy closed on 9 March and in Austria on 15 March; on the same day most major North American and Canadian resorts followed suit. A handful across the Atlantic that usually have enough snow to stay open into May or June retained the possibility of reopening later in the season, including Breckenridge, Heavenly and Whistler Blackcomb – all operated by the Vail Resorts company.
Karen Abrams, a spokeswoman for TUI – which owns Crystal Ski, one of the biggest ski package holiday operators with holidays in 120 resorts across 13 countries – said affected customers had been offered refunds “either full or pro-rata, depending on how their holiday was impacted”, or the chance to change their holiday to next winter.
“It’s far too early to be able to understand or speculate on what the long-term impact of coronavirus will be on the ski sector. It really is an unprecedented situation.” She was confident people would book for next season and said there were already deals available, such as £100pp-only deposits.
Ski World, the UK’s largest independent ski tour operator, carrying more than 20,000 guests per season to 41 resorts in Europe, the US and Canada, said customers could defer their holiday until 2021 or take a Skiworld “credit” to the same value. Next season would operate as normal, said marketing manager Rob Dixon, but he emphasised the need for government help: “We are hoping for more support for the travel industry from the UK government, to help small- and medium-sized independent British travel companies who have already been hit hard by Brexit. We are fully bonded and financially secure but we need support from the government to help us through these tough times.”
The updated Foreign Office advice against any international travel means that many of those with bookings will be able to claim on travel insurance.
Lynsey Devon, whose London-based company Heaven Publicity represents ski companies and resorts worldwide said all kinds of ski companies, large and small, were at risk: “It’s now admin hell for all and I expect some players will go bust.”
At the time of going to press the best option for skiers desperate to prolong the season seems to be Scotland. Glenshee, Glencoe, Cairngorm and the Lecht are still running, with 45-65cm of snow on the pistes – the best conditions so far this year. However the situation may well change as pressure on hospitals and emergency services grows.
European ski resorts have warned against venturing into the mountains by other methods where lifts are closed – using touring skis, splitboards and snowshoes – to avoid the increased pressure any accidents would put on emergency services.
