An empty, closed chairlift in the ski resort of Passo Tonale in the Italian Dolomites
Credit: Reuters
Italians who try to evade a skiing ban by slipping over the border into Austria or Switzerland could be forced to quarantine for 10 days, as the Italian government weighs one of Europe’s toughest Christmas lockdowns.
The mandatory requirement is likely to be contained in a decree that the coalition will unveil on Thursday, heralding a distinctly downbeat and sober festive season for 60 million Italians as the country continues to battle the second wave of the pandemic.
The government is expected to order that all of Italy’s ski resorts remain closed over Christmas and New Year, to the dismay of the skiing sector, which stands to lose millions of euros in revenue.
Neighbouring Austria and Switzerland have refused to bow to calls for a Europe-wide ban on Christmas skiing.
Italians hoping to cross the border for a ski holiday could be penalised by having to quarantine for 10 days once they return home.
French protesters calling for the opening of a ski resort in the French Alps, Bourg-Saint-Maurice
Credit: AFP
Among the other measures which may be contained in the new decree is the continuation of a 10pm-6am national curfew, which means there will be no midnight mass, and a ban on people traveling between regions.
On top of that, Italians will be prohibited from leaving the village, town or city in which they live on Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve.
All bars and restaurants are likely to be told to close on those days. Currently, they have to close at 6pm.
The government is advising against, but not banning outright, large family gatherings.
Italy reported another 785 deaths on Tuesday and 20,000 new cases. The country cannot afford to let down its guard, Roberto Speranza, the health minister, told parliament on Wednesday.
The mayor of the French ski resort of Chatel, Nicolas Rubin, in the town hall with French and Swiss flags, to protest against the decision by the French government to keep the ski lifts closed while just a few miles away in Switzerland the slopes remain open.
Credit: AFP
“In September, we were at 1,600 cases a day, but now we are at 20,000 new cases, and the highest number of the last few weeks was above 40,000 cases,” he told the Senate.
“The festive season needs to be approached with extreme seriousness if we don’t want even worse closures in January and February. That’s why we need clear and rigorous measures.”
France is to conduct random border checks and impose a seven-day quarantine on anyone caught returning from a country where ski resorts are open, the prime minister said. The French measures will apply to the country’s borders with Switzerland and Spain, where it is expected ski slopes will be open during the festive season.
"The goal is to avoid French citizens getting contaminated. That will be done by installing random checks at the borders," prime minister Jean Castex told BFM TV, reiterating France’s decision to keep its ski lifts closed at Christmas.
European divisions over whether to open resorts have triggered tensions among ski operators who are demanding either everyone remain shut or they all be allowed to open at the same time.
A petition in France calling for resorts to re-open before Christmas has garnered 62,000 signatures. French opposition politicians mocked the prime minister’s border check pledge, with Marine Le Pen, head of the far-Right National Rally tweeting:
“We can’t control our borders to prevent terrorists, illegal immigrants and drug traffickers getting through but as if by magic we can control our borders to prevent the French from going on ski holidays in Switzerland?!”
President Emmanuel Macron last week ruled out re-opening French ski lifts before Christmas though a final decision is due on December 11.
Sebastian Kurz, the Austrian Chancellor, at a press conference on Wednesday to discuss the latest measures to combat the virus
Credit: AFP
Austria announced on Wednesday that skiing will be allowed from Dec 24, but the capacity of ski lifts will be limited and bars, restaurants and hotels will remain largely closed until January 7.
The measures will favour local skiers and day-trippers — the closure of hotels will make it hard for foreign skiers to hit the slopes.
As a further disincentive for foreigners, skiers from countries where Covid-19 rates have been high will have to go into quarantine for 10 days, or five days if they take a test.
Swiss ski resorts are ploughing ahead with preparations for the holiday season.
Eloi Rossier, the mayor of the Swiss town of Verbier, said that his town’s ski economy was too important to simply call off the season. He expects up to 45,000 people over Christmas and New Year, fewer than normal due to a large number of cancellations. "There is an economic aspect that we cannot deny, it is extremely important," Mr Rossier told Reuters.
"It is not skiing that’s dangerous for transmitting the virus, but the stuff that comes after skiing, the apres-ski. And here we took extremely strict measures to limit… the risks.” During the first wave of infections in February and March, some ski resorts became breeding grounds for the coronavirus, accelerating its spread across Europe.
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