Where to Ski And Snowboard - Inghams suspends Swiss ski trips

Inghams suspends Swiss ski trips

30th November 2021, by Abi Butcher

Ski Verbier says British skiers are holding out for their holidays to go ahead

French ski holidays are back on, following confirmation this morning that skiers are to be permitted to transit through Geneva airport without quarantining or taking the PCR tests necessary for travel to Switzerland.

Early this morning, Switzerland Tourism confirmed to Where to Ski & Snowboard that exemption from quarantine applied to travel from the UK to Switzerland would be given for passengers headed immediately on to France, Italy or any of the other bordering ski nations.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) then followed this up at 1130 GMT with clarification that those travelling onward to another country need not quarantine, as long as travel through Switzerland is less than 24 hours and does not involve a stopover. Read the latest advice here.

However, ski holidays within Switzerland itself for British skiers remain subject to a 10-day quarantine, and Inghams last night decided to suspend all December 2021 departures to Swiss resorts.

Inghams said in a statement that customers impacted are being offered the option to move their booking free of charge or to cancel their booking with a full refund.

The statement said: “We are extremely disappointed for all our customers who were looking forward to a ski holiday in Switzerland in the coming month. Switzerland accounts for around 6% of the holidays in our winter programme, and booking numbers for the coming ski season have been strong.

“While many of our customers remain eager to return to the slopes, we understand that some customers with later departure dates may be feeling apprehensive about their holiday following this latest update. With this in mind, we continue to offer flexibility via our ‘No Fee to change up to 28 days before departure’ policy. Allowing our customers the option to move their holiday to a later date or different destination.”

Meanwhile, Tom Avery, managing director of Ski Verbier, said his clients were all “holding out” for good news and had refrained from cancelling their holidays yet.

There is a press conference in Switzerland this afternoon, and we are all hoping for a good news update. Where to Ski & Snowboard will keep you updated with news but also keep an eye on our twitter feed for the very latest news — @WheretoSkiandS