On the Travelski website, Thursday, December 16, the countdown continued to tick off the seconds leading to the “1st Travelski Express Departure ”: this subsidiary of Compagnie des Alpes, the world’s leading operator of ski areas, had privatized trains to connect London to Savoy resorts every weekend. They were to serve two stations, with transfer to high-altitude resorts favored by British customers: almost guaranteed snow, immense ski areas, Premier League matches, direct from pubs supplied with beers and ciders from across the Channel.
But, Sunday, December 26, the first Travelski Express will not leave Saint-Pancras station: in order to limit the spread of the Omicron variant in France, the French government announced, Thursday, the reinstatement “Compelling reasons for travel to and from the United Kingdom”. From Saturday, tourist travel will be impossible for Britons wishing to go to France, vaccinated or not against Covid-19.
The first two rotations of the British skier train, which made its return eighteen months after the Eurostar was withdrawn from the Alps, have been canceled, Compagnie des Alpes told the World. For the time being, connections are supposed to resume from January 8, 2022, but this would imply the lifting of the ban on tourist travel and therefore an improvement in the health situation in Great Britain. As a first step, British tour operators have also canceled stays for the next two weeks.
10% of the clientele from the French mountains
“There is a real wave of cancellations”, describes the senator of Haute-Savoie Cyril Pellevat (The Republicans). In unison with other local elected officials, he is calling for the return of aid to winter sports resorts, whose ski lifts were closed last winter.
“We are very disappointed. I knew there was a risk but I didn’t think it would come to this, says Rupert Longdson, founder of The Oxford Ski Company, which offers stays in upscale chalets and hotels. Many customers had to leave on Sunday to celebrate Christmas with their families. The disappointment of our customers is immense, especially since there are many doubts about the duration of the measure. “
Every winter, before Brexit and the Covid-19, some 500,000 Britons came to ski in the resorts of the Alps, distant successors of the explorers who, in the XVIIIe century, discovered the Mer de Glace in the Mont-Blanc massif. They represent 10% of the clientele in the French mountains and much more in the large Tarentaise resorts, where their share can exceed 40%. Each week’s stay generates an expense of 700 to 800 euros per person.
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