Indeed Val d’Isère is particularly reliant on British guests. “Over the last three weeks British skiers made up 42 per cent of our guests, and it would have been the same over Christmas and New Year,” continued Ferrando. 

Dimitri Killy, nephew of ski legend Jean-Claude Killy, runs nine sports shops and two restaurants in the village, and cannot understand the timing. “This is going to have a huge impact. More or less half of my clients are British. I wish they would have taken this decision after Christmas, December accounts for 30 per cent of our business. It’s not just a month. It’s the month. So it’s vraiment a poor decision on our government’s behalf.”

There was a surreal atmosphere in the air as people tried to carry on with their holidays, and a long queue waiting for pass sanitaire checks streaked across the piste outside Cocorico, one of the resort’s most sought after après ski hotspots. Many there were British University students who were coming to the end of a fantastic week on the slopes.  

Joe Jenkins, 21, and Lorenzo Calonghi, 21, are students from Loughborough University and were blasé about the changes, “We have had a great week, sunny and perfect conditions, thank God we got out here this week!”

For Aurelie Bonnevie, the owner of Cocorico, the implications were more far-reaching; “Many, many of our clients are British, I would say 40 per cent”. And we add more than just the numbers. “Après ski is not the same with just the French people, I don’t know why but the British love to party!”

But party or not, can businesses like this survive with 40 per cent less guests? “Survive yes, but we want to keep on dreaming, we are entrepreneurs with big ideas, surviving is not enough. I am not scared today, I am just very, very upset. We have a great team but we will probably have to ask them to work less shifts and less hours. It was my main fear that the UK Government do not allow the UK to travel, but finally it is our government.”