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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.

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.

READ ALSO: Thousands rush to beat Covid travel restrictions between France and the UK

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.

 

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POLITICS

France’s Uyghurs say Xi visit a ‘slap’ from Macron

Uyghurs in France on Friday said President Emmanuel Macron welcoming his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week was tantamount to "slapping" them.

Published: 4 May 2024 15:23 CEST
France's Uyghurs say Xi visit a 'slap' from Macron

Xi is due to make a state visit to France on Monday and Tuesday.

Dilnur Reyhan, the founder of the European Uyghur Institute and a French national, said she and others were “angry” the Chinese leader was visiting.

“For the Uyghur people — and in particular for French Uyghurs — it’s a slap from our president, Emmanuel Macron,” she said, describing the Chinese leader as “the executioner of the Uyghur people”.

Beijing stands accused of incarcerating more than one million Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in a network of detention facilities across the Xinjiang region.

Campaigners and Uyghurs overseas have said an array of abuses take place inside the facilities, including torture, forced labour, forced sterilisation and political indoctrination.

A UN report last year detailed “credible” evidence of torture, forced medical treatment and sexual or gender-based violence — as well as forced labour — in the region.

But it stopped short of labelling Beijing’s actions a “genocide”, as the United States and some other Western lawmakers have done.

Beijing consistently denies abuses and claims the allegations are part of a deliberate smear campaign to contain its development.

It says it is running vocational training centres in Xinjiang which have helped to combat extremism and enhance development.

Standing beside Reyhan at a press conference in Paris, Gulbahar Haitiwaji, who presented herself as having spent three years in a detention camp, said she was “disappointed”.

“I am asking the president to bring up the issue of the camps with China and to firmly demand they be shut down,” she said.

Human Rights Watch on Friday urged Macron during the visit to “lay out consequences for the Chinese government’s crimes against humanity and deepening repression”.

“Respect for human rights has severely deteriorated under Xi Jinping’s rule,” it said.

“His government has committed crimes against humanity… against Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang, adopted draconian legislation that has erased Hong Kong’s freedoms, and intensified repression of government critics across the country.”

“President Macron should make it clear to Xi Jinping that Beijing’s crimes against humanity come with consequences for China’s relations with France,” said Maya Wang, acting China director at Human Rights Watch

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