Glacier tourism and climate change: effects, adaptations, and perspectives in the Alps

Salim, Emmanuel; Ravanel, Ludovic; Bourdeau, Philippe; Deline, Philip

doi:10.1007/s10113-021-01849-0

Cited by 27 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 72 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In addition, the annual economic loss without measures for climate change adaptation was estimated as 17.632 USD per visitor. Therefore, sustaining the aesthetic value of alpine landscapes in national parks via climate change adaptation has potentially significant economic benefits; the present study highlights the importance of climate change adaptation measures (Salim et al 2021). We believe that this study contributes to the development of climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies by considering the benefits for society from ecosystems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…Our findings provide useful information regarding the valuation of remaining snow patches as a landscape component, and suggest that policymakers need to implement both adaptation and mitigation measures by considering how much people lose their benefits without the measures. Because global warming makes it difficult to sustain snow patches until summer (Yokohata et al 2021), it is recommended not only to adjust the mountain-climbing season and/or tailor hiking trails for glacier tourism under climate change (Bury et al 2011;Chevallier et al 2011;Salim et al 2021), but also enhance the climate change mitigation strategy.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Decline in the alpine landscape aesthetic value in a national park under climate change

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Alpine landscapes are projected to be degraded under climate change, which would threaten their benefits to society. Previous studies, however, have been limited to aesthetic change, and it remains unclear how much the aesthetic change would affect human welfare. To address this issue and gain insights into climate change adaptation policies, we conducted a choice experiment survey using digitally manipulated images based on climate change scenarios and natural scientific knowledge in a mountainous national park in Japan. We uncovered that park visitors appreciate the alpine landscapes that include snow patches on mountains and some types of alpine flowers by analyzing the data from 445 respondents. Conversely, both the invasion of alpine vegetation by dwarf bamboo and the disappearance of snow patches due to climate change substantially deteriorated the perceived aesthetic benefits from alpine landscapes. The economic loss caused by climate-induced landscape degradation was estimated at more than 100 USD per visitor, at maximum; the disappearance of snow patches and invasion by dwarf bamboo reduced the benefits by approximately 13 USD and 101 USD, respectively. Our findings suggest that sustaining the aesthetic value of alpine landscapes in national parks via climate change adaptation has potentially significant economic benefits. By supposing that the mountain national park attracts 70,000 visitors in summer, climate change would cause as a minimum of eight million USD economic loss at the park without appropriate measures annually. Our findings highlight the importance of climate change measures by considering climate change impacts on social benefits associated with alpine landscapes.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Decline in the alpine landscape aesthetic value in a national park under climate change

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Glacier loss is seriously affecting water resources, disaster risk management, hydropower generation, agriculture, and tourism (Hock et al 2019 ). Different types of glacier tourism are known including sightseeing, trekking/mountaineering, educational tours, and glacier skiing (Welling et al 2015 ; Salim and Ravanel 2020 ; Salim et al 2021a , b ). Basically, glacier skiing can be practiced year-round on the glaciers’ accumulation areas - in this contribution, however, we focus on glacier skiing in the summer half-year as being expected to be most vulnerable to climate change impacts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of summer skiing days in Austrian glacier ski areas in the first two decades of the twenty-first century

Mayer

Abegg

2022

Int J Biometeorol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summer skiing on glaciers is a leisure activity highly dependent on natural factors like weather and glacier conditions. While the literature agrees that climate change is shaping the fate of summer skiing, longer time series covering both the supply and demand side of glacier/summer skiing, and research that combines natural and non-natural factors affecting the summer ski market are missing. To close this research gap, we conducted a detailed supply-side analysis of nine Austrian glacier ski areas focusing on the number of operating days (in the summer half-year, as well as for meteorological and astronomical summer ski definitions), show how these numbers evolve over time, test how they correlate with meteorological and glaciological data using time-series regression models on a yearly and monthly basis, and highlight how managerial decisions come into play when trying to explain the summer ski supply’s decline. Between 2002 and 2019, summer ski operating days in Austrian glacier ski areas declined by 48.3% in the summer half-year, 65.2% in the meteorological, and 62.3% in the astronomical summer parallel to rising mean temperatures and shrinking glaciers. This decrease is strongest in June to September and weakest in May and October but in two glacier ski areas, the operating days in the summer season remain constant or are even on the rise. This is in line with model results indicating that meteorological and glaciological data only explain parts of the variance of the decline trends. Operators’ agency, strategies, and decisions play an important role underlining that global warming is not monocausally determining summer ski operation.

show abstract

“…To respond to such global transformations, the stakeholders in these territories are adapting, notably through technical and marketing solutions, by developing new activity sites or by intensifying the relationships between the different stakeholders in the territory (Salim et al, 2021b). Another adaptation policy is to turn the scientific value of glaciers into a tourism resource: this is the essence of scientific mediation on glacier dynamics and climate change.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Sharing Scientific Knowledge on Glaciers to the General Public: The Role of Glacier Interpretation Centres in Mountain Tourism Diversification Strategies

Nesur¹,

Salim²,

Girault³

et al. 2022

rga

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Glacier tourism and climate change: effects, adaptations, and perspectives in the Alps

Cited by 27 publications

References 72 publications

Decline in the alpine landscape aesthetic value in a national park under climate change

Decline in the alpine landscape aesthetic value in a national park under climate change

Development of summer skiing days in Austrian glacier ski areas in the first two decades of the twenty-first century

Sharing Scientific Knowledge on Glaciers to the General Public: The Role of Glacier Interpretation Centres in Mountain Tourism Diversification Strategies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About