(Correction to clarify the official’s comments in paragraph 23)
By Olivia Le Poidevin
VERBIER, Switzerland, Jan 29 (Reuters) – A New Year’s fire that killed 40 people in a Swiss ski resort bar has rocked a lucrative tourism industry that has long had an impeccable reputation and put pressure on the country to tighten safety standards.
News that Le Constellation bar in the town of Crans-Montana in the canton of Valais had gone six years without a safety check quickly prompted officials to ban some of the practices, including the use of glowing candles, blamed for the tragedy.
The stain on Switzerland’s exemplary safety record was quickly felt as local hoteliers reported canceled bookings in a canton where real estate costs in resorts such as nearby Verbier can bring prices on a par with Hong Kong.
“There were cancellations, there were postponements of reservations for later dates in hotels,” said Bruno Huggler, director of the Crans-Montana tourism office, after the fire that killed mostly teenagers and injured more than 100 people.
Le Constellation owners Jacques Moretti and his wife are being investigated for negligent homicide and other crimes.
The disaster has sparked a heated political debate over safety, including calls for harmonized national standards in a country that values local autonomy.
It also raised alarm in Verbier’s hospitality sector.
BUSINESS FEARS
“We realize this could happen right here,” said Lionel Dubois, head of the Association of Hoteliers, Café Owners and Restaurateurs in Verbier. “I think that’s a little scary.”
Tourism in Switzerland was worth about $22.17 billion, or 3 percent of the national output in 2021, official data shows.
While bookings at Crans-Montana’s roughly 1,300 hotel rooms have suffered, the overall picture is stable as cottage and apartment rentals cover most stays, tourism chief Huggler said.
Young people have been shaken, however, and while some restaurants are coming back to life, bars remain quieter, said Cedric Berger, head of the Crans-Montana Highlands Apartment and Cabin Owners Association.
Some local accommodation providers have seen cancellations in short-term vacation rentals.
“January is a month to forget, a lost month for everybody,” Berger said.
Survivors of the fire, which also killed French and Italian citizens, are still hospitalized in Europe.
Crans-Montana apartment owners from Italy and France are upset, said Berger, who is also a lawyer.
“People go to the Valais not because it’s the ‘best party’, but because it’s Switzerland and you think it’s safe. If this quality disappears, then the “citadel” of Switzerland is a bit shaken,” he added.
The anxiety about the consequences is palpable in Verbier, where Reuters contacted 37 places to stay.
Most declined to speak or did not respond, although the 12 who did said the checks were properly carried out. However, all agreed that the rules need to be strengthened to guarantee regular inspections, limit numbers in places and provide staff with fire safety training.
In four of Switzerland’s 26 cantons, including Valais, building insurance is not compulsory – potentially increasing the risks for property owners hit by fire, as well as weakening controls.
The Swiss Insurance Association said more than 90 percent of buildings in Switzerland are insured according to market estimates, adding that it does not keep precise figures on how many are not. Reuters could not determine whether Le Constellation had insurance for the buildings.
CRISIS MANAGEMENT
The fire has generated the biggest media storm around Switzerland since the collapse of Credit Suisse in 2023, said Alexandre Edelmann, head of Presence Switzerland, the foreign ministry unit that promotes the country’s image abroad.
As media reports about Switzerland increased 25 times the average in early January, a crisis room was set up to support people abroad following the fire, Edelmann said.
MP Jacqueline de Quattro, head of the lower house of parliament’s security committee, said the fire exposed potential weaknesses in Switzerland’s federal system, which allows cantons to set their own rules.
“I thought we had tight rules and that Switzerland was well prepared,” de Quattro said. “But then we were brutally confronted with reality.”
Proposing a national review to harmonize standards advocated by an events industry group, she expressed concern about reports from event professionals of sloppy work arising from inadequate training, cost pressures and irregular inspections.
But the head of Verbier’s Val de Bagnes municipality, Fabien Sauthier, said inspections needed resources and that, although regular checks took place, it was difficult to inspect around 400 public buildings annually with only four full-time safety officials.
And any push toward greater federal oversight could face resistance.
“I’m Swiss, so I think the canton should decide what it wants to do,” said Willy Schranz, head of the Adelboden city council in the canton of Bern. “If you take responsibility, then it’s a very good system.”
($1 = 0.7667 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin, Editing by Dave Graham and Gareth Jones)