Safety Precautions in Ski Resorts for the 2020/21 Season

Guests will be required to wear facemasks indoors and in certain areas outside including in the queue for lifts, in gondolas and in other enclosed spaces. In France, face masks will also be required for gatherings at the start and end of ski lessons and whilst on chairlifts.

Due to the length of skis and snowboards, social distancing in queues is already a factor to help maintain social distancing. Ranging from 3 metres in Italy to 1.5 metres in Switzerland, skiers must keep their distance when in the resort. In several resorts, skiers and snowboarders will not be asked to go in gondolas or lifts with people they don’t know and with a reduced lift capacity likely, several resorts will also arrange earlier lifts than usual to help maintain social distancing. Plexiglass screens will also be fitted where possible in public areas such as lift pass offices and the Tourist Office.

Many resorts will be screening their staff with temperature checks before carrying out their work requiring that they stay at home should they have any symptoms.

All hired equipment, lifts and gondolas will be thoroughly cleaned, with hand sanitising gel available throughout the station. Switzerland has also created a ‘Clean and Safe’ label for relevant industries, companies and event organisers to follow, with safety concepts in place to protect customers and participants to the greatest degree possible against infection with the coronavirus.

Pre-booking and contactless payments are strongly encouraged throughout resorts. Several resorts are also giving a credit to skiers should their lift passes not be able to be used due to coronavirus restrictions.

Many of the mountain restaurants will look to move dining tables outside where possible, with tables inside kept at a distance. The majority of restaurants will also only have table service available however, several resorts are looking to increase takeaway food to help reduce the number of people inside the restaurants.