The residents of a small Alpine resort have voted to close their ski lifts for good, due to a lack of snow and mounting debts.

For 65 years, the “télésiège” (chairlift) of Seyne-les-Alpes – which has a permanent population of 1,305 – carried skiers to an altitude of 1,800m (5,906ft).

But the regular absence of snow had led to a drop in visitor numbers, and the resort was racking up losses of hundreds of thousands of euros a year, according to the town council.

Some 71 per cent of locals who turned out to vote in a referendum on Sunday were in favour of “the closure of the winter resort” of Grand Puy and the development of “activities independent of the ski lifts”. The lifts will stop on Nov 1.

In a pattern that is playing out across Europe, and indeed the world, climate change is thought to be killing off mid to low-altitude ski resorts which have little choice but to find alternative all-season activities to pull in visitors.

With its 14 ski runs over 24km (15 miles) of slopes, Grand Puy relied on winter sports to keep the local economy afloat, but the number of visitors has halved in the past decade.