Anybody booking for 2021 yet?

A snowHead

Ski resorts will be very hard hit without brits, they will do everything in their power to ensure we can go.

A snowHead

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My recollection from being tested for Ebola when flying in Africa was that if anyone on an incoming flight turned up positive (for elevated temperature on the IR scan) then everyone on that flight would be held, awaiting confirmation. At that stage, you're not yet through passport and customs checks, so this isn't difficult. You have to ask yourself about the statistical probability of just one out of the 300 or so people on your flight testing positive: you could imagine a scenario where it was high enough to deter you from travelling, even if it's just the inconvenience of a false positive (let alone an actual positive).

I suspect this is another reason why the UK doesn't test incoming passengers: yes, it's partly because of the unreliability of any quick test, but also partly because airports simply don't have the capacity to divert, separate and hold even one flight's worth of passengers, let alone many. One answer would be to test people while they're in flight: then if you get a positive, you turn the 'plane around and all go home. But this would be hugely disruptive if more than a few flights/day were positive, given how most flights are part of a chain of journeys through the day.

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@LaForet, have to say my thoughts were surely we need to have these tests done before people are allowed into the airport on the departure side... of course that insists on all countries agreeing to this but struggling to see why that agreement couldn’t be obtained- it seems in everybody’s interest?

After all it is free

Wouldn't it be easier to test before boarding ? Of course the problem there is if it was somebody flying back to their
own country, at least driving it should be less of a problem.

Thinking about the test-before-boarding I think the logistics would be challenging. Ideally, you'd need a test that was reliable and fast and do we even have anything like that? Even if you did have such a thing, you'd need to set up test channels ahead of checkin / security, able to handle physical distancing and practicalities of people carrying their luggage.

Gatwick already hosts a coronavirus drive-in test centre, so perhaps you could extend this to provide a certificate for someone so they can bypass the airport test. Although that would need passport verification to ensure the person being tested isn't substituting for someone else (it would happen). And it would have to be close to the time of the flight itself.

So perhaps some form of passport-based Test Certificate system might work - where it's up to the passenger to get a verifiable Certificate not more than a day or two before the flight, which allows them to fly. It'd have to be digital otherwise it's be too easy to forge, so something like the DVLA hire car code that's valid for a limited period. But it all seems pretty involved and is dependent of having a fast reliable test and a lot f organisation.

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These issues around flying are why, even tho' I have 3 sets of flights booked, my "best guess" is that next seasons skiing for me will involve driving. UK airports are bad enough, but Geneva could be absolute chaos.

Imagine you got a cold, or flu, or had asthma, and were supposed to be flying home... I can't see how you'll be allowed to board a plane in the "new world". That could be anything from inconvenient to highly problematic.

A possible solution I can see is to "zone" mass transport including planes, with perspex screens giving zones maybe as small as 2 rows/12 people. At least then the contact tracing is easier, and maybe you could have the option of buying a whole zone (which might be affordable if you could somehow block off the aisle and restrict it to a 6 seat block for a family of 4). The latest business and first class cabins increasingly have individual pods and at least half height doors, to it's theoretically possible albeit at a cost.

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All the reasons above re testing and quarantine are why we will be driving next season rather than flying (in January if they’ll let us into Austria and more importantly assuming there’s a lift system operating in Arlberg which allows for social distancing).....I really don’t know how’d they do this and be able to avoid queuing, perhaps limiting the lift system to locals and Germans with the tracking app?

My worst fear would be not being able to get back into U.K. if a second wave occurs whilst we are away....hoping a vaccine would be sorted by then otherwise a difficult time for all next season I suggest, not least the towns/ resorts themselves.

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FWIW for me its first and foremost a holiday. It's certainly my favourite holiday and should finances ever mean that I could only have one per year then skiing would be the one.

Many folks have mentioned all manner of permutations of what will be involved in travelling to and moving around a resort next winter but my overriding feeling right now is that if even some of these restrictions are in place it might just end up being less pleasure and more bother than its worth.Perhaps not for the hard core who are happy to see no-one but their travelling partners and do nothing but self cater, sleep and ski. No harm to them but that's not for me.

It's hard to describe but if there's none of the 'holiday feeling' of doing what you like when you like and never having to hurry (apart from the last lift) and all the normal aspects of the whole Alpine experience involved then I'll keep my cash and do any skiing I can in Scotland. Luckily I can be at pretty much any of the these in a couple of hours. If I'm going to have to queue half the day for much restricted uplift I might as well do that on old rickety Scottish lifts than state of the art Austrian ones so I'll stay here and I can get back to my own bed at night.

Why pay what will possibly be more than ever to go and ski in a nightmare of regimented, scheduled and approved movements and activities.

The Alpine authorities must know that very few folks will pre book months ahead in the normal manner. Most will wait and see. Right now I could not foresee booking for the 5 of us more than a couple of weeks in advance and if all I'm hearing from those that have been out in the first 4-6 weeks of 20/21 is that they've parted with several grand to do the Alpine equivalent of Butlins then we won't be going.

I suspect many of the more leisure rather than hardcore skiers will either already be, or end up, thinking the same.

This is a (slight) relief: https://www.france24.com/en/20200503-french-quarantine-rules-to-spare-travellers-from-schengen-area-and-britain

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

Booked up last night for our return trip to st Gervais I'm confident that it will still be possible to enjoy bars and restaurants on the mountain, economically no country can survive without reopening,

A snowHead

I've booked two trips - one at the beginning and one at the end of season. For both I have opted for self drive to lessen the concern over the whole airport / flying aspect.

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I see you can now get tested at Vienna airport which may allow future visitors to avoid a 14 day quarantine. Bookable in advance and results in 3 hours. I guess having the ability to get tested in the UK, 24-48 hours prior to departure will be the way forward once borders start to open. The virus passport will be vital for travel in the next 12 months. Exactly how European countries will agree a standard and the UK signs up I am not sure, but private providers providing EU standard tests will spring up for a cost. I hope it can happen soon or all summer travel will get cancelled.

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Just a thought . . . this current debacle is certainly not the last one and our indigenous holiday industry is just as fook'd as everyone else's. Why not explore the options at home?
Your local economy is what makes it viable for you to have an income to spend abroad. Rebuilding that is probably more important than your monetary masturbation over next winter's largesse rolling eyes

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@Masque, I suspect that should internal UK travel be possible then the UK holiday let industry will do well. All those people that wanted to go to Europe for sun will be forced to stay at home or take a UK let. I am already wondering if I should pre book a Airbnb let for August now before the hordes take up the remaining let’s available. It’s a gamble I know

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@Masque, Because the UK's domestic ski industry is ill-equipped to handle the potential UK participant market both in reliability and consistency of weather and in infrastructure? Skiing at home is fantastic occasionally but it's not reliable enough to make solid plans around.

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@Dave of the Marmottes, @Bennyboy1, Skiing is not the only holiday activity we can enjoy. I love it as much as you do but without an internal economy (especially after BREXIT) to support your income . . . just how many ski trips are in your future?

It will take time, may even be a decade or more to recover to what we think of as being' normal' if ever. Coupled with climate change, there's a good chance we may be the last to have skied the Alps.

After all it is free

@Masque, I am not sure internal economy is what you meant? You probably mean a strong pound and fully employed economy allowing people to afford holidays abroad?

The OP asked if people were booking for next year. The answer is mixed for many different reasons.

I suspect there will be very cheap holidays on offer in 2021 in Europe.

Hoping we can get a week at our caravan in the summer...just need static caravan sites to be allowed to open

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@Masque, are you concerned?

@Bennyboy1, well sort of . . . I try to see, to burrow into all the ramifications of both the disease and the economic results of the responses to it. It does boil down to . . . no matter how much a holiday industry wants clients . . . if those clients don't have an economy that supports a disposable income . . . both of them are fook'd

You know it makes sense.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

@Dave of the Marmottes, the point I'm making and one you valiantly ignore . . . is . . . without a robust (and now resilient in the face of brexit independence) economy . . .

How many of us will be able to survive the next economic fookoop; Whether it be a disease or monetary malfeasance?

Where do you place a functioning economy against a snowy wankfest?

A snowHead

And despite the lack of mass air travel and cheap hols in Thailand for all, people in the olden days did enjoy their holidays - some of my best memories are of wild camping in the New Forest or on the west coast of Scotland. For the last five years my main summer holiday has been sailing to the Channel Islands and the French coast, spending the majority of nights anchored or on a mooring. I have never been on a summer package holiday, or a cruise, so I won't miss them. There could be good opportunities for the British tourist industries to take advantage of the situation. As for campervan holidays, can travellers on CalMac ferries in Scotland stay in their vehicles during the crossing? Same could apply on ferries to France, I suppose, and of course driving on to Eurotunnel trains will be pretty safe, too.

A snowHead

Another campervan positive is that it's easy to avoid resorts with gondolas and cable cars.

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@BoardieK, where are these resorts then? All the established resorts I can think of have moved towards and invested in gondolas in last few years at the expense of chairs.

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@Markymark29, Sainte Foy and La Rosiere. Montgenevere has a couple of telemixes and one gondola but you can get round the whole area on chairlifts if you use the chairs on the telemixes.

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@snowymum, La Rosiere is a good shout, especially as I think you could get around La Thuile without using the main gondola
- although I've never been so cold in my life as on some of their rickety old lifts Smile

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If you start from the Hauteluce side you can do all the good bits of Les Contamines with no gondolas.

After all it is free

@Markymark29, there are loads of resorts without gondolas (or with just one or two avoidable ones).

Espace Diamant, Les Sybelles, Vars / Risoul, (one telemix), La Rosiere / La Thuile (1 avoidable gondola) are just a few of the bigger ones.

I think the very loose and general rule is that the more that German is the predominant language, the more things are going to be a lot trickier to get around. So a lot of the fantastic areas like Arlberg, Kitzbuhel, Ski Circus, Jungfrau, the Dolomites (to name a few).

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@Markymark29, Yes to all the above, most if which we've been to in our motorhome as I don't like starting the day on a gondola. The fact that you state "all the established resorts" is key to the answer; the best way to avoid them is by going to smaller places that you've never heard of.

Help!!

Anybody booking for 2021 yet?

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