The current situation of the pandemic continues to affect the snow industry. Rallies from within the industry requesting an SOS for the ski resorts in Aragon this Christmas have been of little use. The measures taken by the DGA (Diputación General de Aragón) to minimize the impact on the population are restricting movements between provinces during the holiday period.
This situation has been considered unfeasible by the Aramon group and the Candanchú ski resort. The only one that currently maintains its opening date for December 23rd, will be the Astún private capital station.
Aragon ski resorts will have to wait until January 12th
The snow holding company in Aragon, the Aramón group, had announced the opening of Formigal, Cerler and Valdelinares in Teruel for Christmas. But the opening plan that we told you about in this article was cut short by the sudden decision of the DGA where it announced that it was restricting the movement of people between provinces again.
This decision also limits the access of the skiers from Zaragoza, making the opening of the skiable areas unfeasible despite the fact that a specific action plan had been developed to provide skiers with a natural environment free of covid.
The possible opening of the Formigal, Panticosa, Cerler, Candanchú and Valdelinares stations will have to wait until next January 12th, 2021. This falls just one day after the schools and universities return to the classrooms.
Open ski resorts dominate internet searches
The snow season in Aragon will not begin this Christmas, despite the fact that the stations have carried out all the necessary work to open their doors. The different decisions taken by each autonomous community are causing the interest of skiers to focus not only on the amount of snow in the ski resorts, but also if they are open and if there is the possibility of moving between regions. There is maybe nothing better than asking google to get indicators that provide us with answers. This time we have chosen the Google Trends tool.
The Formigal ski resort, the flagship of Aragón’s snow industry, is one of the most requested resorts in search engines. Below you can see the relevant decrease in interest at the Formigal station -which remains closed. Leading in front is the Sierra Nevada station which remains open to the public, with a third of its tracks open and one meter of accumulated snow.
Despite the imminent arrival of the vaccine, the announcement of the new covid strains in the United Kingdom has once again generated uncertainty in Europe. The Spanish ski resorts represent an authentic economic engine in the mountain environment and its valleys.
The mobility restrictions during these Christmas holidays will severely affect the balance sheets of the ski resorts of Aragon. This will undoubtedly plunge a good part of the mountain businesses and its valleys into a process of economic recession. For what it’s worth, we will cross our fingers (with our masks on!).
