Austria on Tuesday opposed Italy’s proposal of a Europe-wide shutdown of ski slopes over the year-end holidays to curb the spread of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Finance Minister Gernot Bluemel said in a statement in Vienna that “for Austria’s tourism industry and its winter tourism, the COVID-19 pandemic is an enormous threat in every way – in terms of health and in economic terms.’’
The ministry said that a ski shutdown could result in the loss of around 2.4 billion euros (2.8 billion dollars) in the form of revenues over the course of the three-week Christmas vacation season.
“If the EU really wants that it has to pay for it,’’ it said.
He argued that the European Union would have to compensate 80 per cent of these revenues, in line with the Austrian government’s own COVID-19 aid scheme for shuttered businesses. (dpa/NAN)
