Event without
a COVID certificate

The latest announcement by the Federal council confirms that the Festival can move forward as an event without a COVID certificate requirement

• Audiences will not be required to present a Covid certificate for admission to the many Mainstage, Academy and Unlimited performances  
• No requirement to wear masks outside, yet masks must still be worn inside Festival venues 
• The Verbier Festival’s protection plan maintains a comprehensive testing protocol for all artists, students, staff, volunteers and official guests 
• People entering from the Schengen area will no longer be required to quarantine, allowing for European audiences to attend the Festival with ease  

28 June, 2021 – VEVEY (Switzerland) – No COVID certificate needed for admission to the 28th edition of the Verbier Festival 

In view of positive developments in the epidemiological situation, the progress being made with the rollout of the vaccines and the responses to the consultation received from the cantons, social partners and other participants, the Swiss Federal Council last week announced the re-opening of the country and the relaxing of rules for persons crossing into its borders. These new measures went into effect at June 26. 

While caution is still warranted, case numbers and hospital admissions due to Covid-19 continue to fall sharply in Switzerland and half of the adult population is expected to be fully vaccinated by the end of the month. Switzerland has been in a stabilisation phase since the beginning of June. The Federal Council is continuing to monitor the spread of the more transmissible Delta variant closely.  

Verbier Festival designated as event without a Covid certificate requirement

From the start, the Verbier Festival’s 2021 edition has been planned as an event that would welcome no more than 1,000 people seated at any single performance, and which would ensure that only up to two-thirds of each venue’s capacity would be in use to allow physical distancing measures.  The Festival’s protection plan also calls for the wearing of masks inside all Festival venues, and outdoors whenever it is not possible to maintain a distance of 1.5 metres, and encourages handwashing and disinfecting by making available alcoholic gel at Festival sites.  

With this latest announcement by the Federal Council, and with these measures already in place, the Festival may now move forward under the rules for an ‘event without a Covid certificate requirement’.  Verbier Festival visitors will therefore not be required to present a Covid certificate for admission to the many Mainstage, Academy and Unlimited performances. Under this designation by the Federal Council, masks must still be worn inside Festival venues.   There is no requirement to wear masks outdoors, although the Federal Office of Public Health continues to recommend that masks be worn where it is not possible to maintain a distance of 1.5 metres.   

The Verbier Festival’s protection plan includes a comprehensive testing protocol that monitors and ensures that its artists, students, staff, volunteers and official guests are Covid-free.  In the interest of contact tracing, Festivalgoers are required to reserve nominative tickets to all indoor Festival performances and events.  The Festival’s Covid Security team will be on hand throughout the event to provide safety information and to encourage best public health practices.  The announcement of the Federal Council now also allows musicians to remove their masks during rehearsals and performances.  

Good news for artists and festivalgoers entering Switzerland   

The Federal Council has also decided to relax the requirements for entering Switzerland. Persons entering from the Schengen area will no longer be required to quarantine. The requirement to be tested will now apply only to persons arriving by plane who have not been vaccinated or have not recovered from Covid-19. Contact details will still be required when arriving by plane. In addition, Switzerland is easing the existing entry restrictions for persons arriving from third countries who can prove they have been vaccinated. The list of countries issued by the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) has been amended accordingly.  

Entry from a country with a variant of the virus of concern

The current list of high-risk countries issued by the Federal Office of Public Health will now only include countries or regions where virus variants of concern to Switzerland are in circulation. Persons who have been vaccinated or who have recovered from the disease will be permitted to enter Switzerland from these countries or regions without having to be tested or to quarantine as long as it is certain that the vaccine is recognised by the European Medicines Agency. Those who have neither been vaccinated nor have recovered must present a negative PCR test or rapid antigen test and go into quarantine on entry.  

In practice, this means that persons who have been vaccinated or who have recovered do not have to produce a negative test even when travelling from countries where the Delta variant is widespread (such as India or the United Kingdom) and do not have to quarantine on entry.  

This 28th edition of the Verbier Festival is made possible with the support of many philanthropic, corporate and public funders, notably Madame Aline Foriel-Destezet, The Friends of the Verbier Festival, the Festival’s major donors, including its Chairman’s Circle, the Commune de Val de Bagnes, Loterie Romande, Canton du Valais, and its loyal Principal Sponsors Bank Julius Baer and Neva Foundation.