French Farmer Travel Disruption May Impact Ski Resorts
1st February 2024
Last modified on February 4th, 2024
There has already been some disruption as the farmers have blocked roads with tractors. More is set to come.
Last weekend farmers used tractors and burning hay bales to block around 70 roads in France.
They included the main A43 from Grenoble airport that is used to reach ski resorts in the area.
Roads were also blocked near Lyon that disrupted journeys to some of the major French ski areas including Les3Vallees, Les Arc and La Plagne.
There were protests around Toulouse in south-west France that caused disruption for skiers heading to the resorts in the French Pyrenees and Andorra.
Transfer companies and ski tour operators used back roads where possible but it added to journey times.
French farmers’ unions FNSEA and the Jeunes Agricultueurs plan to step up their action so fears are growing for this weekend and the approaching half-term break.
The farmers say the introduction of environmental policies is impacting their business and making them uncompetitive with other countries.
British tour operators, including Inghams, report there was some disruption but all guests made it in and out of resorts and no-one missed a flight.
They are all making plans for further disruption.
“Whilst there was some disruption, it was not severe and all Inghams customers made it to their resorts and airports in time,” said Inghams in a statement.
“We will continue to monitor the situation over the next week and make contingency plans again this weekend if needed.
The Inghams operations team are very experienced in handling a multitude of situations and do a brilliant job of making sure our guests are well cared for.”
“We will continue to monitor the situation, we had a few clients report lengthy delays around Chambery although reports of 50km queues couldn’t be confirmed,” said Angus Kinloch from Skiline.
“Ski Line is aware that obviously for the farmers in the regions around the Alps, the roads could be a target and the Paris half term week of the 11th is likely to be a priority target for the region’s farmers.”
It advises clients to expect expect delays, and to bring food and snacks.
Here at PlanetSKI we’ll keep you posted.
