Zusammenfassung der Ressource
CASE STUDY: Abondance, France
- Background
- Typical Alpine ski resort
- In Haute-Savoie
region of France
- One of several traditional ski
resorts in the area that depend
on income from winter skiers
- For the survival of their
many hotels,
restaurants and shops
- In 2007, following
15yrs of unreliable
snowfall, it shut down
- the local council is considering two
options to secure its future and provide
employment for the local population
- to develop other forms of winter sports,
e.g. ski touring, snowshoeing and
snowmobiling that are less dependent
upon deep snow than traditional skiing
- to develop its summer programme
of activities to include hiking, water
sports and mountain biking This
would enable the town to become
more of an all-year round resort
rather than just a winter one
- New developments
- the High Alps form a pristine
landscape rich in wildlife and
free from pollution. With low
level resorts in decline there
is considerable pressure
from developers to develop
these wilderness areas
- however tourism
developments can
harm fragile
environments in a
number of ways
- road construction and the building of ski lifts, houses and hotels
can have a bit impact on natural ecosystems and habitats
- trees are often cut down to
make way for developments.
they have an important
function in binding the soil on
steep slopes and breaking up
avalanches
- Overuse of slopes for skiing can strip a hillside of its natural
vegetation, which can take many years to re-establish.
- mountain biking can
lead to gullies, which
can be enlarged
following heavy rain or
snowmelt to form scars
on the landscape
- With increased levels of pollution (noise,
visual) the natural landscape loses some
of its appeal and this may reduce the
attractiveness of the area for tourism
- In Austria new ski lifts and
cable cars are being
constructed to open up the
Gepatsch Glacier to skiers
above 3,500m
- However with almost all
Alpine glaciers retreating,
there is no guarantee that
glacier skiing will last for long
- At LIsenser
Fernerkogel new
cable cars and
pistes are being
developed
- In other areas there are plans
to contrut cable cars to link
resorts, which would enable
lower-level resorts to remain
viable even if tourists have to
travel by cable car to another
higher-level resort to ski