Macron tells French public to forego Swiss ski holidays

French president Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday announced that the country will be applying restrictions to prevent people from going to Swiss ski resorts amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“If there are countries which maintain their ski resorts open, we will have to take control measures”, Macron said.

France and Germany, which has closed its ski resorts, are pushing for similar measures to be taken for the Christmas season in other European countries, such as Italy and Spain. Ski resorts are already open in Switzerland, which is not part of the EU.

Last week, French prime minister Jean Castex announced that French winter sports resorts will be allowed to open for the Christmas season, but ski lifts and ski slopes will have to remain shut at least until next month.

Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte also warned people against skiing during this holiday season, but did not order any restrictions so far.