Building capabilities and territorial resources in mountain tourist areas

Mass tourism in mountain resorts is facing a number of challenges: climate change, economic crises, increased competition and changing demand. In response to this situation, numerous resorts have embarked on tourism projects, mobilising stakeholders and resources with a view to renewing the tourism...

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Main Author: Jean-Christophe Dissart
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Institut de Géographie Alpine 2012-12-01
Series:Revue de Géographie Alpine
Subjects:
Online Access:https://journals.openedition.org/rga/1809
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author Jean-Christophe Dissart
author_facet Jean-Christophe Dissart
author_sort Jean-Christophe Dissart
collection DOAJ
description Mass tourism in mountain resorts is facing a number of challenges: climate change, economic crises, increased competition and changing demand. In response to this situation, numerous resorts have embarked on tourism projects, mobilising stakeholders and resources with a view to renewing the tourism product and moving from mass tourism to a form that is more specific. This process is not straightforward, however, and it therefore becomes critical to analyze the conditions that govern the renewal of tourism services in mountain areas. We hypothesize that by using regional generic resources, tourism creates “territorial capabilities” that are then used to build and add value to territorial resources. Tourism, in turn, builds on the latter to adapt. This “virtuous circle” is analyzed in the Oisans region of the Alps. First, we show how tourism has shaped the region by creating conditions for the emergence of territorial capabilities, then we explain how these capabilities enable a renewal of tourism services. Results show that capabilities act as human and social resources for the territory, especially with respect to the development of mountain tourism projects.
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issn 0035-1121
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publishDate 2012-12-01
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series Revue de Géographie Alpine
spelling doaj-art-71d9dd10d17b471299c47a971f392cfc2025-01-10T15:54:34ZengInstitut de Géographie AlpineRevue de Géographie Alpine0035-11211760-74262012-12-01100210.4000/rga.1809Building capabilities and territorial resources in mountain tourist areasJean-Christophe DissartMass tourism in mountain resorts is facing a number of challenges: climate change, economic crises, increased competition and changing demand. In response to this situation, numerous resorts have embarked on tourism projects, mobilising stakeholders and resources with a view to renewing the tourism product and moving from mass tourism to a form that is more specific. This process is not straightforward, however, and it therefore becomes critical to analyze the conditions that govern the renewal of tourism services in mountain areas. We hypothesize that by using regional generic resources, tourism creates “territorial capabilities” that are then used to build and add value to territorial resources. Tourism, in turn, builds on the latter to adapt. This “virtuous circle” is analyzed in the Oisans region of the Alps. First, we show how tourism has shaped the region by creating conditions for the emergence of territorial capabilities, then we explain how these capabilities enable a renewal of tourism services. Results show that capabilities act as human and social resources for the territory, especially with respect to the development of mountain tourism projects.https://journals.openedition.org/rga/1809Alpsmountain tourismterritorial resourcesterritorial capabilities
spellingShingle Jean-Christophe Dissart
Building capabilities and territorial resources in mountain tourist areas
Revue de Géographie Alpine
Alps
mountain tourism
territorial resources
territorial capabilities
title Building capabilities and territorial resources in mountain tourist areas
title_full Building capabilities and territorial resources in mountain tourist areas
title_fullStr Building capabilities and territorial resources in mountain tourist areas
title_full_unstemmed Building capabilities and territorial resources in mountain tourist areas
title_short Building capabilities and territorial resources in mountain tourist areas
title_sort building capabilities and territorial resources in mountain tourist areas
topic Alps
mountain tourism
territorial resources
territorial capabilities
url https://journals.openedition.org/rga/1809
work_keys_str_mv AT jeanchristophedissart buildingcapabilitiesandterritorialresourcesinmountaintouristareas