Travel & Holiday

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said Italy “can’t afford” the risk of further infections from people taking ski holidays. He is urging Europe-wide rules. Ski resorts are seen as super-spreaders of the virus back in March.

The announcement has been made by the Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps.  With a vaccine on the horizon, hopes rise in the world of snowsports. The self-isolation changes mean skiing is more attractive but there are still significant obstacles.

The new rules have come into force this weekend and include travel restrictions. The resorts are not due to open until December, but an impact is already being felt.

Hotelplan UK runs Inghams, Ski Total, Esprit and Flexiski.  Holidays to Finland go too. It is another body blow for UK skiers and snowboarders in these Covid-19 times.  

The company had been going for 30 years and has been unable to survive the Covid-19 crisis. UPDATED

The alpine nation is seeing a sharp rise and measures taken so far do not appear to have worked. Ski resorts are already closed to the general public and it is grim news as winter approaches. UPDATED

UK Shortbreak Specialist is closing its main base in France, but it will act as an agent selling hotel rooms in its resorts. Other operators are under pressure and are considering their plans for next winter as the pandemic spreads and restrictions are tightened.

The operator has been working in the Aosta Valley in Italy for almost 40years, but has decided to suspend all operations next winter due to Covid-19.

With the Alps looking increasingly difficult and North America near impossible some skiers and snowboarders are looking at following their passion in the UK this winter. Resorts are preparing but Covid-19 restrictions remain unclear.

Almost the whole of the alpine country has turned red on its four-level traffic light system. New measures are expected to be announced tomorrow.

The current numbers make grim reading with forecasts even worse. Resorts have coronavirus policies in place, and hopefully skiing can happen, just in a different way to normal. But perhaps not till 2021.

The resort is following all the regulations and has obtained the “Clean and safe” label in collaboration with Switzerland Tourism. Some question the wisdom of opening as Switzerland, and the Valais Canton, is one of the Covid-19 hotspots in Europe.

There are only a handful of glacier resorts open but the apparent breaches of Covid-19 rules in Cervinia as the pandemic spreads in Italy are being taken very seriously. It’s an indication of what things may be like next winter across the Alps. UPDATED

 Austria’s main ski area has answered the 10 most asked questions about what next winter my look like.

It is a confusing picture, but testing & reduction in quarantine times are essential if there is to be a ski season this winter for us Brits.

It has announced compulsory testing for anyone travelling from the UK and a number of other countries. Those that test positive will need to go into quarantine. UPDATED

It is the single biggest restriction on the ski industry for next winter after Covid-19 itself. If current quarantine measures are in place it will decimate the winter for many UK skiers and snowboarders. It seems changes are coming but not soon enough for many.

They are the last major ski countries that do not have travel restrictions for people returning to the UK, but their Covid-19 cases are rising. Travel remains possible with all the skiing nations in Europe, but arrival/departure quarantine rules are growing.

The government is expected to start a trial project at Heathrow and it could then be rolled out to other airports. Testing is seen as key to getting people flying again and booking ski holidays.

Quarantine is now needed from Poland and Turkey. All the countries in the Pyrenees, North America and many in the Alps are currently under the restrictions. There are though some options. Fancy skiing in Cyprus?

Getting the right insurance cover for your ski holidays is something most of us take seriously.  It’s never been more important than now.

This week Switzerland has introduced a mandatory 10-day quarantine for people coming from the UK.  There are other restrictions in place to visit other ski countries. Many hope they will be eased, but there are concerns it will go the other way with tighter rules as winter approaches.

The body representing the French mountain resorts, France Montagnes, has published details of the Covid-19 rules for next winter.  Some things will be the same with others very different.

Apres ski groups have been banned in the ski resorts in Austria next winter. Ski resorts will open but with Covid-19 restrictions in place.

It is, to say the least, a very confusing picture for next winter with so many unknowns in booking a ski holiday. The UK’s largest operator is on hand to try to help answer your FAQs.

While the UK’s biggest ski tour operator Crystal Ski Holidays has axed its entire chalet programme, the luxury brand Consensio will continue to sell chalet holidays to the French Alps this winter.

The UK’s largest ski tour operators is ending its chalet business. It blames Covid-19 and will have huge implications for next season’s ski and snowboard holidays.

Winter is on its way with snow at altitude in Canada. The resorts are looking ahead to what the season of 2020/21 may be like as the pandemic continues. UPDATED

The long-standing ski specialists and tailor-made tour operator have self-drive, self-catered holidays to the Alps and eco-friendly trips among their offerings for the coming season in its new online brochure.

The Austrian resort has become a byword for a ski resort that spread coronavirus.  Many others likely did similar, but the mud seems to have stuck on Ischgl. The resort has unveiled its plans for next winter. UPDATED

Harris Holidays Ltd that trades as Ski Weekends has been placed into administration.  Observers fear it is one of the first of more as the fallout from Covid-19 continues. UPDATED

The ski specialists are taking bookings for the 2020/21 season with the help of a new interactive brochure.

If the example of some of the summer party hotspots in anything to go by then the answer is very different. Some may even not open.

It has been going since 1997 but has hit the buffers after Eurostar cancelled it for next winter. It has blamed coronavirus, but some think this is exactly the moment when train travel could be a viable alternative to flying.

Tour operators report a rise in bookings, summer travel restrictions are being eased and resorts are planning ahead for next winter. It will be a somewhat different affair but there are, at last, growing signs of some optimism.

The UK ski and snowboard operator has launched a new campaign as it tries to reassure people they will be “In Safe Hands”.  It follows an announcement of job cuts due to covid-19 and significant worries about next winter.

The company, which owns the ski brands Inghams, Ski Total, Esprit Ski, Flexiski and Santa’s Lapland, is to reduce the size of the business and is considering cutting jobs by 27% due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 crisis. 

People will need to self-quarantine for 14-days with some counties introducing reciprocal arrangements. The tourist industry criticises but some say it is far too late.

Both countries are allowing their ski resorts to open later this month.  It will be primarily aimed at locals but if deemed safe an air link would be established that could make a big different to the ski resorts, especially in New Zealand.

Three more resorts announce they are opening. They follow Thredbo and Mt Buller. We look at what the experience may be like, what other resorts may learn & ask if it can be economically viable.

In the second of our special reports we look at what life might be like in a socially distanced ski resort. It will be an altogether different experience.