One of the UK's main winter sports holiday operators has suspended all December departures to Switzerland following concerns over the emergence of the Omicron Covid variant.
Inghams, which offers ski holidays in the winter to 76 resorts in seven countries, with flights from 15 UK regional airports made the decision after the Swiss government announced all arrivals from the UK must be quarantined for 10 days.
Chief executive Joe Ponte said: "Following the news that Switzerland has imposed a 10-day quarantine on all UK arrivals, we have sadly suspended all December 2021 departures to Switzerland.
"Customers impacted by this news are being offered the option to move their booking free of charge or to cancel their booking with a full refund.
“We are extremely disappointed for all our customers who were looking forward to a ski holiday in Switzerland in the coming month. Switzerland accounts for around six per cent of the holidays in our winter programme, and booking numbers for the coming ski season have been strong."
He added: “While many of our customers remain eager to return to the slopes, we understand that some customers with later departure dates may be feeling apprehensive about their holiday following this latest update.
"With this in mind, we continue to offer flexibility via our ‘No Fee to change up to 28 days before departure’ policy. Allowing our customers the option to move their holiday to a later date or different destination.”
Inghams also runs winter wonderland trips and Santa Breaks to Lapland. It has a popular Summer Experiences holiday programme to many European destinations and Canada, and a dedicated self-guided and escorted tours programme.
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