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The question that has been asked over the summer about whether the Alpine tourism industry and its advocates have learned anything from the Ischgl case now seems to have been answered: No. A few weeks before Christmas, so important to the ski industry, it is clear what attitude prevails in some alpine countries: the ski show must go on. Whatever it takes. The fiasco of March, when Ischgl became a hot spot for the European crown, seems to have been forgotten.
Of course, it is economically understandable why there is resistance in Austria and South Tyrol to the initiative of the Italian government, which now has the support of the Prime Minister of Bavaria, Markus Söder, to keep the ski areas closed for the moment throughout the EU. Too much money is at stake.
Mountain railways generate up to 25 percent of their annual turnover during the Christmas holidays; In Austria’s ski areas alone, lost sales after a three-week shutdown at Christmas is estimated at € 2.4 billion. According to various studies, there are more than 160 million overnight stays in the Alps in winter, plus roughly the same number of ski days. No one risks such a successful model lightly.
And yes, of course, the ski industry has invested in safety concepts. The après-ski, which has fallen into disrepute from Ischgl as a Covid driver, has long since ceased to be a problem, according to the arguments of advocates of mountain holidays. And indeed, it remains to be seen how the number of infections will develop in the coming weeks. However, almost categorically ruling out a European elevator lockdown until January, as Austria’s Finance Minister Gernot Blümel and ÖVP Minister for Tourism Elisabeth Köstinger are doing both is as irresponsible as it is lacking in solidarity.
The Vienna government appears to be submitting to ski tourism
It is irresponsible because there is currently no reliable information on the risk of infection associated with a ski operation during the very high season. As early as October, gaps in the safety concepts of gondola operators had been identified in some glacier ski areas. The images of the crowd waiting in front of the feeding gondolas looked downright creepy. Due to travel restrictions, there were often only half as many people on the roads as before the pandemic. So what if the crowds really do come?
An act of lack of solidarity is the refusal to find an EU-wide solution on the issue of ski resorts, because sacrifices are required from all companies and all destinations between Venice and the North Sea in the crisis, but Should the tourism industry, which is almost sacred in many Alpine regions, get away with it?
By the time the ski resorts closed in March, most of the deal was done. The Austrian government helped the industry during the sad month of November with amazing measures. Every hotelier should receive up to 80 percent of the turnover for November of the previous year. The fact that the Government is now asking the EU to reimburse the costs of two billion euros and therefore a large part of the usual Christmas income in the case of closed ski resorts can be understood as a tactical with good will . At the moment, it seems that Vienna is going into the ski tourism business.
