Arnaud Vignal, head of the sub-activity department at DDETSPP, explains how the system works for ski resorts.
“Partial activity is like insurance” sums up Arnaud Vignal, head of the department for partial activity at DDETSPP Hautes-Pyrénées. In anticipation of a decrease in activity, in this case due to this Christmas holiday, due to the lack of snow cover, “all resorts in the Hautes-Pyrénées have integrated the long-term partial activity system (APLD) from the summer of 2022. They did so in anticipation of this winter, but also for the coming years, and they got it right, says Arnaud Vignal. He explains that a branch agreement, dated October 15, 2021, gives winter sports venues access to the APLD. “There were changes to this agreement after Covid – the health crisis. In 2020 and 2021 there were administrative closures of the resorts. They were compensated… In this season 2022-2023, the consequences of the war in Ukraine have very significant consequences for skiing. resorts, especially with an increase in the cost of energy, and also supply difficulties, especially for steel, titanium or aluminum spare parts, in addition to the lack of snow cover for these Christmas holidays. APLD has been endowed with endorsements, the latest of which is on November 14, 2022, to deal with all these difficulties”.
“Not a bottomless pit”
Arnaud Vignal then states that the duration of APLD is 48 months. “During this period, they can use the state’s compensation for 36 months, consecutively or not, according to their needs. It is not a bottomless hole for the public finances”.
The Hautes-Pyrénées sub-activity service expects to receive requests for compensation from the resorts for the lack of snow cover this Christmas holiday. And also for this beginning of January. “It is up to them to manage the situation as well as possible. There is a remainder that must be paid for them. For seasonal workers there is a social aspect because an employee in partial activity does not receive his full salary. resorts must in their request for compensation justify the financial situation they are facing, in this case the lack of snow cover, and they must tell us how many employees they have employed in partial activity”, concludes Arnaud Vignal.