The China Mail - Crans-Montana's ski tourism continues, in shadow of Swiss tragedy

The shellshocked town has toned down the party vibe out of respect for the victims of Thursday's blaze at Le Constellation bar, with concerts cancelled and music and DJs muted.

But it insists the resort needs to keep going.

Skiers heading to and from the slopes voiced sympathy for victims of the horrific bar inferno that killed 40 and injured 119 others out celebrating the New Year.

Some have visited the scene of the tragedy, while others have purposefully stayed away.

"If everyone cancelled their holidays it would be terrible: it wouldn't help the community here" at all after the "shocking" tragedy, said one 39-year-old Australian tourist, visiting from London on a four-night stay.

"It would be a double whammy for the town," which relies on tourism.

- 'Heartbreaking' -

Isabelle Herstine, 58, a Swiss woman who now lives in the United States, said she had been coming to Crans-Montana since her youth -- and intended to keep visiting a place she loves.

"I also went to these bars when I was young," she said.

"Why stop coming? It's an accident, it's tragic, but ... this can happen anywhere; it's happened in other places around the world.

"It will not stop me from coming here, that's for sure."

Sofiane, 31, from Toronto, was visiting Crans-Montana for the first time, during a trip to Europe, and arrived the day after the tragedy.

His group considered cancelling, but said it would have been difficult to do so, having already paid up for the week.

Seeing that life in Crans-Montana was carrying on, they felt it was OK to stay.

Sofiane said the scene of the disaster was "heartbreaking, because you can see clearly victims there."

But they also saw people trying to continue on with their lives, "and we said, you know what, if people here are still open to that, we shouldn't stop" either.

- Finding the right tone -

Bruno Huggler, Crans-Montana Tourism's chief executive, told AFP the upscale resort would try to strike the right tone in the busy winter weeks ahead.

The town is muting the party vibe out of respect for the victims of Thursday's blaze at Le Constellation bar, where many young people had gathered to see in the New Year.

Huggler said concerts had been cancelled, and the resort had stopped the music and DJs in bars at the bottom of the slopes, but had kept the venues open to give people somewhere to connect.

"Especially in such hard times, the personal contact exchange is so important. So, give them a place, but it must not be with a party. So, slower, and respectful for all these victims."

He said many tourists had decided to stay on, and he had no information indicating that people were cancelling bookings.

"Everybody is really touched by this, but on the other side we have a resort which is fully open, which is fully accessible, and needs to go on," he said.

He said it was important to find "the right tone and not to forget that it's not only a tourism resort... it's a community that lives here".

Locking down the resort "would not help anybody either", but he said the tourism industry would "be respectful in this: how we keep on going, and how we will manage the coming month".

While some parts of the town might look as if things are carrying on as normal, near Le Constellation, "you dive into the very deep sadness of what happened".

One first-time visitor from the Dominican Republic, who did not want to give his name, said he arrived on Thursday night, after the disaster, but could not face seeing the scene of the tragedy.

"Someone said it was eerie. We haven't been to it. We're staying away from there, for sure -- deliberately. You don't want to see it."

V.Fan--ThChM