Hundreds of UK tourists on Sunday snuck out of their Swiss ski resort of Verbier at night where they were forced into quarantine after reports of the new COVID-19 mutant surfaced, according to the local municipality of Switzerland.
Around 200 of the total 420 tourists fled or so affected British tourists fled the luxury Alpine ski station under the cover of darkness, the SonntagsZeitung newspaper reported.
Following the discovery of the new variant in the UK, the Swiss government decided to take strict actions by ruling a 10-day retroactive for anyone with a travel history to Britain since December 14.
This affected Switzerland’s ski resort which in normal conditions, thrive at this time of the year with many Brits visit the Alpine range seeking snow. The additional ruling of flight-ban from England has not helped the tourism sector of the Swiss as well.
Some Britishers decided to leave as soon as the news of rules broke to them while others remained and later fled sneakily out of their resorts at night.
"Many of them stayed in quarantine for a day before they set off unnoticed under the cover of darkness," Jean-Marc Sandoz, spokesman for the wider Bagnes municipality, told SZ.
He called the whole situation "the worst week our community has ever experienced".
British tourists normally make up 21 per cent of the Verbier clientele, and most start pouring in just after Christmas.
Voted Switzerland's best ski resort for the past two years, Verbier markets itself as offering "adrenaline-packed thrills, simple pleasures and a chic lifestyle".
The Verbier Tourist Office has been holding daily crisis cell meetings to try to deal with the ever-changing coronavirus picture.
