From Monday 14 March, France will end the use of Covid-19 vaccine passports domestically, and lift its mandate on face coverings in indoor public spaces, although they will still be required on public transport. Suspending the health pass will also ease the daily testing requirements for unvaccinated teenagers.
The move comes as another welcome boost for the ski sector, which has endured a third winter heavily curtailed by the Covid crisis. Club Med managing director UK and northern Europe, Estelle Giraudeau, said she expected sales to rebound strongly in the coming weeks and months.
“We’re delighted at the recent announcement that from 14 March, France is suspending the health pass, meaning unvaccinated children and teens will no longer need to test daily," she said.
Giraudeau said the restrictions had been a “roadblock” in ski season traffic, adding she expected people would be “eager to make last-minute bookings” for Easter now the rules are set to be relaxed – while warning some resorts were already close to being sold out.
"Club Med had a very strong start to the year with record-breaking sales weeks that saw revenue figures up 245% compared to the same weeks in 2019," she said.
"With families being our core audience, we expect a boom in sales throughout March and April, particularly around the Easter break as customers look to take advantage of the relaxed restrictions."
Skiworld sales and marketing director Diane Palumbo, meanwhile, told TTG the news would come as a further confidence boost for the beleaguered winter sports sector.
“I’ve been astounded with the number of bookings that are happening for the latter part of next season," said Palumbo, who is also a spokesperson for Seasonal Businesses in Travel. "Booking patterns have completely changed – this week we have taken more bookings for April 2023 than I’ve ever seen at this time of year."
Palumbo put some of the uptick down to the last two years creating a “wanderlust” among customers, who were excited to now get back to the mountains.
“The travel industry can be a powerhouse of recovery," she said. "When people want to do what we’re seeing them want to do, which is this wanderlust, we can be a powerhouse to the economy, which is something I think we all need – we need the economy to be flourishing."
