Finland slams Merkel's call to shut EU ski centres

HELSINKI: A proposal by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to close EU ski slopes to stop the coronavirus spread would be "fatal" to businesses in Finland, the country's business minister said.

"Here in Finland we have to remember that the majority of visitors to ski centres are domestic travellers," a spokesman for Finnish Economic Affairs Minister Mika Lintila told AFP on Friday.

"It would be quite odd if the ski centres were shut down in Finland because the corona situation in general is not as horrific as in some other countries."

Germany is seeking an EU-wide ban on ski tourism over Christmas to halt coronavirus transmissions, but many countries including neighbouring Austria have voiced strong opposition.

Lintila said Merkel's plan to close ski centres would be "a fatal blow" to the Lapland tourist industry, where the country's most popular resorts are situated.

"I would not close ski centres. I understand closing after-ski venues," Lintila said.

In Finland the majority of ski centres are comparatively small, with minimal after-ski facilities, and rely on domestic rather than international visitors, with the exception of a handful of larger resorts in Lapland.

Meanwhile in Sweden, state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell also said he did not believe the country's authorities would ban travel to ski resorts.

"We must remember that it's quite a big difference between the Swedish ski resorts up in the north and the ones you have in the Alps," Tegnell said when asked whether he agreed with Merkel.

"Any regulations should be made locally. It's not possible to make one rule for the whole of the EU," Harri Lindfors, managing director of the Finnish Ski Area Association, told AFP.

"We have good guidelines in place," Lindfors said.

"It is already possible to keep a safe distance on slopes and lifts. There are much more dangerous places to go than ski resorts," he added.