Alpine Tourism after the Corona Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities

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.

Hiking in the Alps: Poschiavo, Switzerland. Photo: (c) Heinz Heiss

The project contributed 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 developed a list of criteria to analyse and evaluate the envisaged support measures and economic stimulus programmes of the Alpine countries for their effectiveness in promoting sustainable Alpine tourism.

To involve all stakeholders in the debate, the project organised national focus groups. These groups first discussed the results of the analysis, i.e. how the participants viewed the impact of the lockdown in the short term, as well as how the corona pandemic would affect the structures of Alpine tourism in the long term.

These focus group meetings were followed by an Alpine-wide virtual workshop. At this event, all Alpine countries discussed the results (analysis, demands on economic stimulus programmes, recommendations for action, etc.) and exchanged their views on the future environment-friendly development of tourism in the Alpine region. The entire project was accompanied by strategic communication measures to optimise public relations and policies in line with the above-mentioned project objectives.