CORTINA, Italy (AP) – The granite peaks that majestically surround the northern Italian city of Cortina d’Ampezzo shine with one of the most prolific snowfalls in recent years, a cruel joke of nature as the COVID- pandemic 19 silences the winter centers of Italy.
Cortina will be passing through television sports channels for two weeks this month, as the past and future Olympic host city will host the 2021 World Ski Championships and send downhill skiers flying down precipitous slopes. But the event will occupy only a fraction of the rooms available at the hotel and is unlikely to bring much business to the city’s luxury shops. Spectators are not allowed.
In fact, the spasm of the activity seems to be a simple flicker in a ski season that seems destined to never take off, as the Italian government is delaying the reopening of the ski lifts for leisure skiers. The world championships will provide a good perspective for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, but with little economic relief for local businesses and workers living off the winter sports economy, which has been unemployed for almost a year.
“Absurdly, we made snow in November, because we didn’t know there would be so much and the slopes had to be prepared,” said Marco Zardini, executive director of Cortina Skiworld, which normally operates 35 ski lifts in four areas, but now there are only four lifts that can be used by local clubs and aspiring world-class athletes who will have to stay fit for future seasons.
Italy’s 2019-2020 ski season ended unexpectedly early last March, when the country became the first Western country to be hit by the pandemic. A new season has yet to be launched, unlike neighboring Switzerland, which in December allowed the opening of restricted lifts or to Austria, where residents can still ski. The French ski lifts will remain closed at least until February.
In Italy, pandemic-related closures are a hit for an industry that generates 1.2 billion euros ($ 1.5 billion) in annual revenue and employs 5,000 permanent workers and 10,000 seasonal workers, according to the association of ski lift operators, ANEF.
The association said the end of last year’s season meant a 20% drop in revenue and considered the current season a total loss. Taking into account hotels, restaurants and other services, the ski industry generates 11 billion euros ($ 13.2 billion) in annual revenue, but travel restrictions have kept activity at zero at the top of the ski lifts. .
“Mountains, you can’t leave yourself alone. They have to be careful “, said the president of the ANEF, Valeria Ghezzi.
The paradox is that 2020-21 would have been a season for record books in Cortina and elsewhere in the Italian Alps, where snow has been plentiful, Zardini said.
In any season, Cortina d’Italia shopping street in Cortina can compete with Milan’s Montenapoleone Golden Triangle for its concentration of luxury brands, including Dior, Fendi and Moncler. But the shops are empty of customers and most hotels are closed. Many hotels have several feet of snow piled on the roofs and terraces.
In a normal year, Italians account for just over half of Cortina’s nearly 1 million annual visitors, and Americans are the top foreign visitors, ahead of Germans and British.
While global fashion brands can expect to balance the precipitous fall in business with booming sales in China, this is not the case for local businesses. Bruno Pompanin Dimai, the owner of a sports shop, described the season as a “disaster” for Cortina. All winter he has sold a few pairs of boots and a ski jacket. Their only convenience is that the ski brands have promised not to update their offerings next season, so they will be able to sell their surplus inventory.
“With all this snow I would have worked twice as hard,” Dimai said.
Ingrid Siorpaes, who runs a local craft store, said sales fell 90 percent. The only people walking down the snow-covered main street are locals and people coming out of the pandemic to their second homes.
“We stay open, even if I have to fire a salesman,” Siorpaes said. “Foreign tourists are missing from this store.”
It’s not that different in other ski areas in the Alps and the Apennines, where instead of generating cash, many ski lift operators accumulate costs for a season that may never come.
Although ski resorts generate cash for four months a year, maintenance and upkeep are costly throughout the year, which ski resort operators say the Rome government has been slow to understand.
There is no aid package for the ski industry and the situation is painful for the workers. Permanent workers may be laid off on a short-term basis, but these programs are not available to seasonal workers, who represent a large portion of industry elevator operators, ski instructors, mountain guides, rental store employees and hospitality and catering workers.
Ghezzi, president of the ski lift association, doubts the elevators will open on Feb. 15 as currently scheduled.
“Unfortunately, I have to say the season is hopelessly compromised,” he said. “We can say that the season is a total loss. If we can open in March, it may become 90% or 95%. I can’t rule out some companies failing. “
An opening in March would give a maximum of one month of teaching to Giulio De Luca, who runs the ski school in San Vito, which is part of Cortina SkiWorld. Since last spring he has only seen two government payments of 600 euros ($ 722), which were quickly followed by a tax bill of 950 euros ($ 1,143).
“In November, December and January, the instructors did not receive a single penny,” the De Luca government said. Nor has the ski school been eligible for aid so far, as rental bills, utilities, telephone and taxes continue to arrive.
“I have the money to pay taxes now, but not next month,” he said.
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