France to compensate ski resorts hit by ban on British tourists

France will compensate ski resorts affected by the new travel ban on British tourists who make up around 15 percent of French ski resort customers.

Published: 19 December 2021 11:37 CET

Chairlifts above the slopes in Chamrousse, France

British tourists make up over 15 percent of all tourists in some French ski resorts. Photo by Quenten Janssen on Unsplash

Speaking on C News and BFM TV on Saturday, French tourism minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne said he wanted to encourage more tourists, especially French tourists, to go to the resorts to make up for lost earnings.

Together with businesses in affected ski resorts, he said he would look at the impact of the loss of UK business in ski resorts over the next few weeks and implement “bespoke” measures to help those affected.

#Tourisme ⛷ | Pour faire face à la perte de la clientèle 🇬🇧, j’ai réuni ce matin les acteurs de la #montagne. Nous sommes et resterons aux côtés des professionnels touchés. Et vous qui cherchez un séjour dans les semaines à venir, n’hésitez pas à faire le choix de la montagne🇫🇷! pic.twitter.com/KakF2fsk2h

— Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (@JBLemoyne) December 18, 2021

However, he did not specify what these might be.

“We are going to look at the figures…and we will do what we need to cushion the impact,” he said, explaining that they needed to analyse the situation first as not all resorts and businesses would be affected equally by the loss of British custom.

For example, British tourists made up a higher percentage of the total clientele in some resorts, such as Val d’Isere, Courchevel and Meribel, he said.

To stem the spread of the new Omicron coronavirus variant, new rules banning holiday travel from the UK came into force on Saturday.

Under France’s new rules, travellers need to show a compelling reason for travel between the two countries.

The only exemptions for needing a compelling reason are for French and European travellers returning to France and British passengers heading in the other direction.

Lemoyne also noted that there could be fewer Dutch tourists in French resorts this year. On Sunday, the Netherlands entered a lockdown until at least mid-January to slow the spread of Omicron.

Dutch tourists typically make up around 5 percent of French ski resort visitors, the minister said.

Member comments

Become a Member to leave a comment.

“I don’t believe in the model… which would involve finding third countries on the African continent or elsewhere where we’d send people who arrive on our soil illegally, who don’t come from these countries,” Macron said.

“We’re creating a geopolitics of cynicism which betrays our values and will build new dependencies, and which will prove completely ineffective,” he added in a wide-ranging speech on the future of the European Union at Paris’ Sorbonne University.

British MPs on Tuesday passed a law providing for undocumented asylum seekers to be sent to Rwanda, where their asylum claims would be processed and where they would stay if the claims succeed.

The law is a flagship policy for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government, which badly lags the opposition Labour party in the polls with an election expected within months.

Britain pays Paris to support policing of France’s northern coast, aimed at preventing migrants from setting off for perilous crossings in small boats.

Five people, including one child, were killed in an attempted crossing Tuesday, bringing the toll on the route so far this year to 15 – already higher than the 12 deaths in 2023.

But Macron had warm words for London when he praised the two NATO allies’ bilateral military cooperation, which endured through the contentious years of Britain’s departure from the EU.

“The British are deep natural allies (for France) and the treaties that bind us together… lay a solid foundation,” he said.

“We have to follow them up and strengthen them, because Brexit has not affected this relationship,” Macron added.

The president also said France should seek similar “partnerships” with fellow EU members.