Norwegian ski tourists in the Alps –

– There are some Norwegians here now, Helmut Mall, mayor of the Austrian ski resort of St. Anton am Arlberg, informs Dagbladet.

Up to 40 at a party

Mall has drawn attention this week by telling the Tiroler Tageszeitung newspaper that foreigners from Scandinavia and the UK, among others, have come up with ingenious ways to have fun in Austria’s alpine resorts, despite the country being closed due to the corona pandemic and does not want ski tourists from abroad at all.

– There are about 200 people here now. They exchange experiences in online forums, come by train from Zurich and hide behind the fact that they will work here. That’s completely unacceptable, Mall continues.

– Serious errors led to infections in 45 countries

He tells Tiroler Tageszeitung about photos of parties with 30-40 participants, taken in small illegally rented cabins in the trail area, with beer from the grocery store.

Hotels closed

One must really want to stay in Tyrol to go there now; hotels are closed to tourists, restaurants can only offer take-out food, and ski lifts are only open to locals, according to tourism authorities.

However, a significant number of young foreigners have attended, attracted by the good conditions and a lot of space on the slopes. According to the mayor, they finance their stay through odd jobs like washing dishes and shoveling snow, while this formally places them in the category of “job seekers.”

– The doors closed after me.

– We don’t like this; It’s not okay to come here with false pretenses during the shutdown, Mall says.

The authorities have now asked the police to toughen control activities with a view to reporting and a residence permit.

Norway is not a ‘risk country’

Norway is currently one of the few countries that, from the Austrian side, is not considered a “risk country”. Therefore, Norwegian citizens can travel to Tyrol without having to be quarantined or submit a negative covid-19 test, unlike Swedes and Danes. However, we still have to register and be cleared prior to entry.

However, there is no doubt that the Austrian and Tyrolean authorities preferred to keep tourists at home. The official Norwegian team also advises against so-called unnecessary travel.

– To Norwegians who have thought that it is okay to travel abroad on vacation, I would say that it is no longer okay, Prime Minister Erna Solberg declared on Wednesday, at the same time she announced the closure of Norway’s borders for most of the foreign. .

In mid-August, the government turned all the former green lands yellow, thus discouraging all unnecessary travel abroad.

Traditionally few Norwegians

Tore Meirik, web editor of sports magazine Fri Flyt, explains that for many years Swedes and Danes have been over-represented among Scandinavians during ski holidays in the Alps. This corresponds to the declaration of the mayor of St. Anton of “some” Norwegians in the city.

Supports the crown lantern

– Especially the Swedes go there a lot, as they have small mountains. Denmark has no mountains, and it is also often cheaper for Danes to go to the Alps than to Norway, he tells Dagbladet.

– For me, it does not make much sense to travel somewhere when I live near a top ski area, says the mountaineer, who states:

– It is a time and a place for everything. Now is not the time to go abroad.

Frederiksen reacts

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has accepted that many of the Alpine tourists come from the country.

– Are there young people who have gone on skiing holidays in Austria? Apparently. It’s okay? No, write on Facebook.

However, he maintains:

– The vast majority adapt to their own cases, do their best, hang out and do not travel to Austria or Dubai.

– Impossible

In the other ski resorts in the Alps, there are different scenarios, depending on local regulations. In Tirol Ischgl, where many were infected last ski season, Mayor Werner Kurz says there is no chance to stay overnight.

– In Ischgl, the cable cars, as well as all the ski lifts, all hotels and all restaurants are closed. Therefore, no employees are needed at the moment, Kurz tells Dagbladet, and therefore rejects that tourists can “cheat” the system by registering as jobseekers.

The mayor also notes that the infection has been eradicated throughout the Paznaud Valley, where Ischgl is located.

– We comply with all legal regulations of the government and state, he emphasizes, and emphasizes that this also applies to all residents, including owners.

Some tourists

Across the Swiss border in St. Moritz, Alexandra Cadoni informs the tourist authorities that most of the offers are closed, but that there is still some activity on the ground.

– There are several tourists from all over Europe here, without me having statistics on which countries. They can be together in groups of up to five, he tells Dagbladet.

Norway is not on the list of Swiss countries with a higher risk of infection and therefore Norwegian citizens are freed from quarantine upon entry. Denmark has just been removed from the list, unlike Sweden.

Curfew

The Italian winter sports resort of Bormio is located in the Lombardy region, which is currently subject to a strict closure, including an overnight curfew.

– It is not possible to come here to ski and you have to take into account the quarantine rules, says the city tourism office to Dagbladet.

The office states that locals have the opportunity to, for example, go cross-country skiing.

– Stay in Norway

According to the Italian authorities, all citizens of Scandinavian countries are released from quarantine upon entry, but must present a recent negative corona test.

Can stand off track

Entry into France is “totally and absolutely” advisable at this time, according to French authorities. But again, Norway is on the list of countries whose citizens can access, along with Sweden and Denmark and the rest of the EU / EFTA countries. The requirement of a negative test does not apply if you are traveling by land.

– There is a curfew here starting at 6pm, and possibly there will be a full shutdown next week. All hotels are closed, but some apartments are available, the receptionist at the Le Kern hotel in Val d’Isere tells Dagbladet.

The currently inaccessible hotel receptionist further states that skiers can access the guided off-piste trail and that food and drinks can be ordered for the apartment.