Alpine Tourism after the Corona Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities
Adding a critical contribution to the current discourse on appropriate post-Covid recovery packages and the future development of Alpine tourism, thus laying the basis for sustainable, environmentally friendly and resilient tourism.
Project info
Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Switzerland
09/20 - 09/21
-
83,559.00 €
Contact info
Jakob Dietachmair
- Community Network "Alliance in the Alps" (AidA)
- Verein Alpenstadt des Jahres (ASDJ)
Background
Tourism has been impacted by Covid-19 like no other sector in the Alpine region. It is of vital importance as a source of income in this region, and as the revenue generated by the tourism industry has significantly dropped since the corona pandemic began, it is crucial to address this issue and the sectors affected by the pandemic. As a result, tourism (the hospitality industry and service sector) as well as the sectors that are indirectly affected, such as agriculture, trade, transport service providers are bound to change.
This debate is furthered by demands which seem to be contradictory: conserving nature in the Alps on the one hand while simultaneously calling for more infrastructure on the other. At the same time, the effects that climate change has on the Alpine region have to be duly considered to make tourism more sustainable by assuming more responsibility for protecting the environment and conserving wildlife, resources and soil fertility.
Project
The project contributes to this debate by recording the effects of the lockdown on Alpine tourism, conducting and evaluating interviews with representatives of the tourism industry and developing recommendations for action.
Furthermore, the project develops a list of criteria, on the basis of which the envisaged support measures and economic stimulus programmes of the Alpine countries can be analysed and evaluated for their effectiveness in promoting sustainable Alpine tourism.
To involve all stakeholders in the debate the project organises national focus groups. These groups first discuss the results of the analysis, i.e. how the participants view the impact of the lockdown in the short term, as well as how the corona pandemic will affect the structures of Alpine tourism in the long term.
These focus group meetings are followed by an Alpine-wide virtual workshop. At this event all Alpine countries discuss the results (analysis, demands on economic stimulus programmes, recommendations for action, etc.) and exchange their views on the future environment-friendly development of tourism in the Alpine region. The entire project is accompanied by strategic communication measures to optimise public relations and policies in line with the above-mentioned project objectives.
Last update: April 2024