Faced with the progression of the Omicron variant across the Channel, the French government has decided on new measures for travelers from the United Kingdom, such as a period of compulsory isolation on arrival in the national territory. This advert “which may seem trivial” is “an economic drama” and one “real sledgehammer“, according to Christophe Lavaut, general manager of Val d’Isère Tourisme, invited this Saturday by franceinfo. In this station, 42% of the customers are British.
“It had been exactly 623 days since we had no winter activity and everything was going well so far. The level of reservations was pretty good. We were about 5 points below a normal year, before Covid. It was almost unexpected, we will say, compared to what we had the right to hope. And everything was going pretty well until the latest announcements for UK travelers“, he regrets.
“Overnight, we are cut off almost half of our economic benefits, our turnover, our attendance“, he explains, especially as”two days of the Christmas holidays, it is really very, very, very difficult to bear because all the professionals of the station, who had hired their staff and had stocked up for the restaurants or bars“.
Following the announcement of travel restrictions, resort professionals recorded “a wave of cancellations from British tour operators which will have an economic impact“on the station”who is really going to be phenomenal“, fears Christophe Lavaut.
Concerns about employment are starting to be heard for the 4,000 seasonal employees in Val d’Isère. “I don’t think we’re going to cut 42% of jobs since we can’t reason in that way“but consequences could be felt”on a quarter of this volume of jobs.“
Faced with these new constraints, the general manager still wants to put things into perspective. “We are used to adapting to whatever is imposed on us, whether by the climate, the environment or by government rules. And we will also certainly be able to adapt to what has just happened to us“, he concludes.