Ski resort under fire for first delaying then rushing to evacuate skiers after Covid outbreak
Austrian authorities made ‘momentous miscalculations’ by delaying and then rushing to evacuate the ski resort of Ischgl where it is believed hundreds of people, including at least 180 Britons, contracted coronavirus in early March.
An independent commission headed by the former vice-president of the Austrian supreme court said that authorities should have shut down apres-ski bars, restaurants, ski lifts and non-essential bus services as early as 9 March, the day after health authorities were told that a waiter from one of the bars had tested positive for Covid-19.
Instead, they didn’t order a shut down until 10 March and they didn’t put a stop to skiing until 12 March. The commission’s chair Roland Rohrer said this was ‘a wrong decision, from an epidemiological perspective’.
Rohrer said the Tirol’s health authorities had acted ‘untruthfully, and therefore badly’, when they announced on 5 March that a group of Icelandic skiers who had tested positive in Reykjavik had probably caught the virus on the plane home and not in Ischgl.
The state prosecutor in Innsbruck is investigating four main suspects for negligence, including Ischgl’s mayor, for ‘deliberate or negligent endangerment of people through transferrable diseases’.
However, the commission said it had found no evidence to back up claims that authorities had been lobbied by the local tourism industry to keep the ski lifts running for as long as possible.
But when the decision was eventually made to evacuate the entire Paznaun valley, the report said it was done in a rush, leading to skiers being crammed onto buses, which likely exacerbated the spread of the virus amongst tourists.
The expert commission’s report is one of several investigations into the chronology of the Ischgl cluster.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
In Italy, the Meloni government congratulates itself for its tourism achievements
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive