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Optimism of purpose and dispute among tourism professionals: they hope that the number of cases can be reduced again with strict measures by December. But with the right strategy for the main season, cracks open.
That was once: après-ski at the Cervo Bar in Zermatt before Corona.
Photo: Thomas Linkel / laif
The first balance of the winter crown that has begun is successful. “We have never had such a good season opener,” enthused Hans Wicki, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bergbahnen Engelberg-Trübsee-Titlis and Chairman of Seilbahnen Schweiz, about this past weekend. Zermatt’s mountain railways are off to a good start too. The number of Swiss is particularly high.
The latter can be interpreted as a bad and a good sign. Bad because it confirms that Swiss tourism will lack foreign guests, as was to be feared. Most importantly, Corona has not taken away the desire to ski from the Swiss.
“Hopefully we have the numbers under control again for December.”
However, it is doubtful that it will remain that way if the crown situation worsens, as expected. “Of course we are concerned,” says Wicki. “People want to ski, but only if they feel safe.” However, it might even be lucky that the second wave is already hitting. If strong measures were taken to contain the pandemic during the start of the low season, the damage would not be as great as if it had to do the same during the high season in winter. “Hopefully by then we’ll have the numbers under control,” says Wicki.
Wallis rushes forward
This is exactly the route the Valais is trying to take right now, currently Corona’s hotspot in Switzerland. The cantonal government approved a strict tightening on Wednesday: among other things, night bars, fitness and wellness centers and cinemas will be closed. Restaurants must close by 10 pm A maximum of four people can sit per table. I hope that the curve will sink again soon and that you can receive tourists in December with a clear conscience.
But even if that should work, it’s still unclear what the Corona winter should look like for many winter sports destinations. The cantons had decided to coordinate your protection measures, but they still see some things differently. This became evident in the middle of last week in a meeting between the Minister of Health, Alain Berset, and cantonal representatives.
The Valais State Councilor, Christophe Darbellay, of all people, was significantly less restrictive than his colleagues from other mountain cantons when he discussed après-ski rules. Several witnesses in this newspaper confirm it. Darbellay argued that this would at least give him some control over social gatherings that would otherwise meet in private rooms. However, with the latest measures, Valais inevitably goes further than all the other cantons. Darbellay did not respond to a request from this newspaper.
“We will be restrictive on these issues,” says Uri chief economics officer Urban Camenzind, who was also at the meeting with Berset as vice president of the chief economics conference. Uri is currently one of the cantons with the lowest number of cases. Camenzind still says: “If we don’t do that, we run the risk that the Federal Council will close the ski areas again as a last resort.” He had done it in mid-March, just before the national shutdown.
Special rules for foreigners?
In meeting with Federal Councilor Berset, Darbellay also urged the federal government to relax the quarantine rule for foreign tourists. Most of the mountain cantons, on the other hand, have come to terms with the fact that they have to focus on the locals in the Corona winter. However, foreign guests are not as important to them as they are to Valais. In this sense, something could happen soon, Berset said Wednesday. Only the Darbellay is now useless. With the current Corona numbers, hardly any foreigner wants to travel to Valais.
