White peaks and a climate of optimism mark the opening of the ski season after the total blackout of 2020. To prepare and beat the slopes at high altitude, overtime was done to be ready to welcome thousands of enthusiasts. Thus begins the long weekend of the Immaculate Conception in which, according to Federalberghi forecasts, just over 10.1 million Italians will be set in motion, of which a quarter will choose the mountain. On average 3.4 nights will be spent away from home, for a turnover of 3.2 billion. On the other hand, 13% of Italians will remain at home due to the many uncertainties about the containment measures of the pandemic.
The protocols
“The security protocols of the Ministry of Health arrived almost out of time (yesterday for those who read ed) – underlines Valeria Ghezzi, president of Anef (ski lifts) -. We expect a challenging opening and we count on the collaboration of the skiers. The flow rate of closed systems passes to 80% from the previous 50%. The lifts remain 100% open and the “basic” green pass is inserted to access the lifts as for local public transport. The possibility of random checks of the green pass has also been included and there is a window to keep the lifts open in the orange and red areas ».
Winter full of expectations
Marco Bussone, president of Uncem (mountain municipalities) speaks of a “winter full of expectations, fortunately of snow and certainties”. At high altitudes there is no lack of snow and enthusiasts who have been stationed for over 21 months can’t wait to embark on the descents. “Compared to past seasons, we have a much better start, we are happy with the snow conditions and the progress of hotel bookings – reports Giovanni Brasso, president of Sestrieres, the company that manages the plants in the Vialattea district -. The sale of seasonal ski passes was also satisfactory with 4,100 season tickets compared to 4,400 in 2019, an excellent result considering the climate. There is some concern for the evolution of the pandemic and there are questions as to whether reservations for arrivals from abroad will be confirmed for the period January-March 2022 when 85% of foreign customers are concentrated “.
The age of the plants is open
«Today most of the lifts are open while the almost total opening for the whole district will be in mid-December. The sentiment is very positive with enthusiasts asking for information on controls – anticipates Andy Varallo, president of the Dolomite Superski consortium -. For the Bridge, hotel reservations are good and we expect important inflows. Seasonal sales are higher than in 2019. There is snow, there is cold, we hope that the pandemic curve won’t play tricks on us ». For checks, the resort has equipped itself with an automated system on the app that checks the identity of the skier and checks with the Green pass at the beginning of the day on the slopes.
Sold 5,000 passes to the North East
From the North-East everything is ready for a gradual restart, with some of the plants restarting today and others during the bridge, commuting tourism is expected from the Triveneto. In the six districts of a Friuli-Venezia Giulia in the yellow zone, the focus is on the green pass to regulate activities in safety. «About 5 thousand seasonal ski passes have been sold, half of which online – promoturismoFvg said -. If tomorrow we pass into the orange zone we will continue to ski with the super green pass ». From nearby Veneto Marco Michielli, president of the local Confturismo, recalls the difficulties in which snow entrepreneurs operate. «Up until 25 days ago we were enthusiastic about the number of bookings arrived in Cortina and the smaller towns that gave us the feeling of a full house both for the days of the Immaculate Conception and for Christmas – explains Michielli -. Then the government made the historic mistake of announcing that it was starting to discuss a “new” green pass, creating confusion among customers, completely blocking reservations and fueling cancellations. A damage that we can estimate at -20 / 30% for the Immaculate Conception. We hope that during the weekend fans will start booking last minute to recover lost arrivals ».