Two French Ski Resorts Shut Down Due to New COVID Restrictions, Others Forced to Push Back Opening Dates

UPDATE 11/1/2020: Austria is also shutting down, forcing all resorts in the country to suspend operations through at least the end of November.

Earlier this week, France mandated a new national lockdown due to skyrocketing COVID cases. These restrictions, which started today, prohibit people from leaving their homes unless needed for essential work or medical reasons. These restrictions will remain in place through at least December 1.

Two French ski resorts, Tignes and Les Deux Alpes, had already opened for the season thanks to favorable early snow cover. However, they suspended operations Thursday and will remain closed for the duration of the lockdown. Other French resorts that planned to open within the next few weeks will now be forced to push back their opening dates.

This comes as resorts in some neighboring countries continue to open. Verbier, in Switzerland, opened today.

Our Take

This order comes as a stark reminder that COVID is not over and, if nothing else, demonstrates why ticket and pass protections are so incredibly important this winter. Despite being months into the pandemic, such a shutdown isn’t unprecedented—resorts in parts of Australia were forced to suspend operations for nearly their entire season due to a similar order. We hope that by implementing these measures now, France can get its case count under control and avoid a fate similar to Australia’s.

It will be telling to see how neighboring countries, some of which share resorts with France, take action over the next few weeks. Case numbers look to be rising at alarming rates in many of them. In the event that resorts spanning multiple countries face need to adhere to differing COVID lockdown rules, it’s unclear what will happen.