Sustainable Tourism In Northwestern Alps: Winter Sports Impact On Pasture Lands

Tourism has many potential benefits for rural areas, being an important source of jobs for nonmetro communities, especially for those that are economically underdeveloped. The traditional use of lands in mountain regions is combined nowadays with surfaces devoted to recreational activities because of increasing tourist demand for winter sports. Winter-based ski tourism is a major human use of many mountain regions, with large-scale ski resorts in Europe, Asia, North and South America, New Zealand and Australia. The Alps have become increasingly developed to cater to tourist activities beginning in the ‘50s. This was partly an outcome of traditional practices (livestock, agriculture, forestry), which were unable to generate enough income to maintain farms and the social structure. As with many human activities, the development of winter sport resorts may impact mountain landscapes and environments. In general, ski run construction and management have a great impact on the soil properties and other environmental factors, sometimes influencing traditional rural activities such as the management of pasture lands. Therefore, it could be recommended that environmental goals in ski resort management should be established and respected. In particular, we recommend carefully recording the vegetation and soil characteristics in a specific area before any intensification of use as ski slope, and complete avoidance of areas with soil and vegetation of particularly high conservation value.