Ski lift operators demand end of obligatory testing for skiers

Ljubljana – Ski resorts demand that the government abolish obligatory coronavirus tests for skiers, Manuela Božič Badalič, president of an association of ski lift operators, said on Monday following a meeting of representatives of all ski resorts. Unless the testing requirement is abolished, they will mount a Constitutional Court challenge.

Božič Badalič said that skiers do not want to get tested and that despite efforts by operators to get everything needed in place fast, only a few dozen skiers turned up after the measure took effect on 1 January.

“Licenced providers of testing cannot even provide the service and skiers do not come because they do not want to get tested every day just to be able to ski.

“A fair number of people turned up at ski resorts but they did not buy tickets and did not use the lifts,” Božič Badalič said about this weekend. A negative test is a condition for the purchase of a ski lift ticket.

The association has requested meetings with Prime Minister Janez Janša and Infrastructure Minister Jernej Vrtovec in the past but has received no response.

Ski lift operators do not want to escalate the tensions but they cannot operate under these conditions, which is why they will challenge the measure in Constitutional Court unless the government abolishes it, said Božič Badalič.

She said the measure was exaggerated and disproportionate, considering that gyms and pools reopened today without any testing required.

The Infrastructure Ministry responded by saying it had been striving to see ski lifts operate, but safely. It added that medical opinions are taken into account when measures are drafted and expressed hope that the epidemiological situation would improve soon.

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