Messages posted by : SwingBeep
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No idea what the "UK exemption" is, but the current entry requirements for Austria are to be found by clicking "Entry requirements for Austria" on the Austrian embassy web site https://www.bmeia.gv.at/en/austrian-embassy-london/travelling-to-austria/coronavirus-covid-19-and-travel-abroad/
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Austria's plan for Covid-19 restrictions in ski resorts is outlined here: https://www.austria.info/en/service-and-facts/coronavirus-information/ski-winter-holidays In the English version it states that FFP2 masks are to be worn in "Cable cars", but in German version it says "Seilbahnen" (ropeways) so FFP2 masks might be required for all lifts.
If you go over to Samnaun and want to eat inside a restaurant you will have to obtain a Swiss Covid-19 certificate https://covidcertificate-form.admin.ch/foreign at CHF 30- a piece you would probably enjoy your lunch a bit more if you ate on the terrace! |
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I think it's reasonable to assume that most of the money will be spent on the lift including its stations and the transport hub, but we won't know for sure until the end of the planning process in 2022.
The goals seem to be pretty modest to me. They claim it will reduce road traffic by 85,000 cars, 500 trucks and 100 buses p.a. I think if they were really serious they would have chosen a 3S lift. At the moment they are plugging the time advantage, they estimate the time saved on a return trip from Magland to Flaine at between 40 min and 1h30 depending on the time of year and the condition of the road. You could easily loose that amount of time faffing about with luggage and queuing for the lift, especially if the weather's bad and lots of people decide to take the lift. One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is how are skiers going transport their luggage from the top station to their accommodation? Pushing a baggage trolley through snow is no fun! |
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€89 million is much more than a 2S lift of this size would normally cost. Leitner has just built a similar 2 section 2S lift to replace the old Nebelhorn cable car at Oberstdorf for €55 million, this will likely have also included the cost of removing the old lift https://www.ok-bergbahnen.com/unternehmen/baumassnahmen/neubau-nebelhornbahn.html
If you look under "Présentation du projet" https://www.funiflaine.fr/le-syndicat-mixte/ it states that the project comprises: A 5.3 km long aerial ropeway with a target capacity of 2025 persons / hour / direction. 3 stations: Magland (departure), Pierre Carrée (intermediate) and Flaine (terminus). A multimodal transport hub at Magland (car parks, connection between rail / bus / car / bicycle transport). A logistics facility that will organise the transit of goods, merchandise, luggage, etc. Before the project can go ahead environmental impact studies must be carried out and a declaration of public utility obtained https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9claration_d%27utilit%C3%A9_publique If all goes well construction is scheduled to start in 2023 and the lift should go into service in December 2025. Both Leitner and POMA are part of the HIT Group https://www.poma.net/en/hti-group/ so the lift will most likely be a POMA branded Leitner 2S lift https://www.leitner.com/en/products/ropeway-systems/advantages-2s-system/ The 2S system (the S stands for Seil, the German word for rope) isn't as popular as it once was as in most cases a 1S gondola lift will do the job just as well, but the use of a carrying rope results in a reduction in the number of pylons required, which is advantageous in environmentally sensitive locations. Whilst the journey time reduction will certainly be welcomed by skiers arriving by train and by people who live in the valley and work in Flaine I think might be difficult to get holiday skiers who would normally drive up to use it, unless road access is restricted or the price of resort parking is greatly increased. |
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A preprint of the paper that the team from the Medical University of Innsbruck wrote has now been published: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.19.21252089v1.full-text
"Our findings suggest that seropositivity levels of around 40-45% might suffice to stop the virus when some social distancing and NPIs are in place. Now that vaccines start to roll-out in Europe, the case of Ischgl indicates that virus transmission can be successfully controlled if social distancing measures are continued, at levels of vaccine coverage below the predicted 70 to 80% herd immunity threshold." |
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The current Médran 1 lift (Verbier-Croix des Ruinettes 1) uses Giovanola gravity grips to attach the cabins to the rope, as these no longer meet current safety standards (the Giovanola gravity grip was first introduced in 1950) all the lifts that use them have to be replaced by end of 2025 at the latest.
The Verbier-Savoleyres lift also uses Giovanola gravity grips so that will have to be replaced as well, I think it's scheduled to be replaced by a combination lift with 10-person cabins and 6-person chairs in 2023. Téléverbier presented details of the planed replacement lift in 2013 http://www.seilbahn.net/snn/konfig/uploads/pdf/465.pdf unfortunately the owners of a chalet below the future valley station objected so the project has been held up ever since. |
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I'm a bit surprised it took so long for the major tour operators to realise that there was no hope of providing skiing holidays during the rest of this season.
On the 2nd February the EU Council recommended that non-essential travel from third countries into the EU should only be allowed if the 14-day incidence was not more than 25 cases per 100,000 https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2021/02/02/covid-19-council-updates-recommendation-on-travel-restrictions-from-third-countries-into-the-eu/ I think it's highly unlikely that the UK will be able to get it's 14-day incidence down to that number before the end of the season. |
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Has your friend tried Googling with a search string in the local language targeted at the region / country of interest? Hotel zu verkaufen site:ch returns lots of hits for hotels for sale in Switzerland, https://www.immoscout24.ch/de/buero-gewerbe-industrie/kaufen/land-schweiz-fl?pn=2&pty=42 lists 141 properties several of which are in ski resorts. Unfortunately, many of them are in need of renovation and some have too few rooms to be economically viable.
The hotel business and the hospitality industry in general is heavily regulated so you will have to get to grips with lots of laws and regulations https://ftp.hotelleriesuisse.ch/de/pub/services/recht_l-gav_n/rechtsfragen_a-z.htm / https://www.gastrosuisse.ch/angebot/recht-gesetz/rechtliche-fragen-im-betrieb/ You will probably also need a licence https://www.wirtepatent.ch/de/wallis-133.html Providing the lease allows it I can't see any reason why you couldn't sublet a property, the accommodation sector is also heavily regulated https://docplayer.org/69094459-Die-regulierung-in-der-beherbergungswirtschaft.html Also bear in mind that there are restrictions on the acquisition of property in Switzerland by persons from abroad https://www.bj.admin.ch/bj/en/home/wirtschaft/grundstueckerwerb.html and that you will need to obtain residence permits. Obviously this only applies to Switzerland, but I expect that challenges you will face when buying and operating a hospitality business in one of the neighbouring counties will be similar or even more onerous. Switzerland is generally regarded as being a business-friendly country. |
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