Andorra's Ski Areas Not Opening Until January

Sonofapreacher wrote:
Will this split lead to local tourist agencies to lobby their governments.

Yes particularly in France and Italy. Protests in many resorts and mountain towns. Legal moves by regional governments to try to overturn national decisions. Austrian areas seem more sanguine about it and focussed on the Xmas Eve opening for Austrians and Jan 7 for everyone else. Also see: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-12-09/french-ski-resorts-challenge-macron-in-a-bid-to-save-christmas

Latest is that Andorra will now open their slopes for everyone a week earlier than stated before. January 3rd is the new date, which will allow Spanish tourists to come here and celebrate their 3 Kings holiday.

I did another skimo day today from the base station of Pal up to the top station (Cubil) at ~2700m, and the one slope prepped for skimo was packed with locals enjoying a nice day in the sun.

Andorramike. I read about this in DiariAndorra. Seems strange with French restrictions until at least Mid January, and Catalunya reviewing restrictions on December 21st.

Brucie, latest news I have seen is that France has now stated the 7th Jan, lurgy dependant, to allow the lifts to start running again.

Hope I am allowed to post an external link to a news site...

https://www.france24.com/en/france/20201211-france-to-allow-ski-resorts-to-reopen-on-january-7

Just a guess, but whilst cases are up in the Uk, last recent figures i saw, said deaths were within the 5 yr average.
So, lockdown hasnt really worked in terms of cases but the virus although still around in some form, isnt killing anymore people.
If the lifecycle of a virus is all about finding a host for survival, and that it gets weaker, then govts need to adjust their plans...not least because their current lockdown plans ..along with associated huge costs..is not sustainable.

Good news, the Andorran government has just sent a message to Macron telling him that Andorra will open up its slopes on January 2nd, pending the Covid situation doesn't worsen again. At the moment the daily average of new confirmed infections is around 30 and we have only one patient still in the ICU. This will for sure rise again once the slopes open and tourists start showing up in larger amounts, but at some point the suffering economy will outweigh the rather small percentages of people affected by the virus medically.

At least now people and businesses in Andorra have a firm date to go by instead of the wishy washiness up until now. I have a feeling the pressure from the local tourism sector and the fact that neighboring resorts in Spain are already open pushed the opening date up a bit.

After a few pretty warm days here it looks like colder temps are on the way again to let them fire up the canons, and we may even get some fresh snow just around Christmas. Time to finally go and buy the season pass!

Spain is on my list but entry at airports is on a fit to fly basis, which is a 72hr negative test.
Getting those in England is not available on the NHS. The tests are, the certs arent, so you'll pay.
Having said that, Spain aren't allowing tier 4 currently, test or no, anyway.