Abstract
Technical snowmaking has become an important measure in winter tourism destinations to deal with decreasing snow reliability, seasonal weather variability, and growing customer demand. This study analyzes tourists' attitudes toward technical snowmaking, their preferences for snow reliability, and other factors that influence destination choice. We interviewed tourists at 3 Swiss winter tourism destinations: Davos, Scuol, and Braunwald. In addition, we analyzed the impact of technical snowmaking on the regional economy in Davos with a scenario analysis based on a simplified model of the regional economy related to tourist behavior. The 3 destinations showed large regional and seasonal differences in tourists' attitudes toward technical snowmaking and the importance of factors that influence destination choice. Generally, technical snowmaking is being increasingly accepted among tourists. It can be considered as insurance for snow reliability. In major tourist destinations that focus on skiing for winter tourism, the potential damage to mountain railways and hotels from lack of snow can be great enough to justify the costs of technical snowmaking. But snow reliability is not the most crucial factor that affects the attractiveness of destinations in general. Our results show that the European Alpine landscape and a wide choice of activities in the winter as well as the summer season are the most important factors that influence destination choice. In some cases, therefore, it may be economically reasonable to refrain from technical snowmaking and redirect investment to tourist attractions independent of snow conditions.
Highlights
Climate change is expected to have considerable impacts on European Alpine tourism (Abegg 1996; Elsasser and Messerli 2001; Probstl 2006; OcCC 2007)
Technical snowmaking has become an important measure in winter tourism destinations to deal with decreasing snow reliability, seasonal weather variability, and growing customer demand
In major tourist destinations that focus on skiing for winter tourism, the potential damage to mountain railways and hotels from lack of snow can be great enough to justify the costs of technical snowmaking
Summary
Climate change is expected to have considerable impacts on European Alpine tourism (Abegg 1996; Elsasser and Messerli 2001; Probstl 2006; OcCC 2007). Increasing winter temperatures will result in a shorter skiing season (Scott et al 2003) and a shift of the natural line of snow reliability to higher altitudes (Abegg et al 2007; Steiger 2010). Lack of snow (as in the winter 2010–2011 in most parts of the Swiss Alps), decreasing snow cover and snow depth (Laternser and Schneebeli 2003), and decreasing snow reliability could lead to smaller number of visitors and reduced revenues, and have severe economic impacts on winter tourism destinations in the Alpine space (Scott et al 2007; Muller and Weber 2008; Unbehaun et al 2008). Lack of snow (as in the winter 2010–2011 in most parts of the Swiss Alps), decreasing snow cover and snow depth (Laternser and Schneebeli 2003), and decreasing snow reliability could lead to smaller number of visitors and reduced revenues, and have severe economic impacts on winter tourism destinations in the Alpine space (Scott et al 2007; Muller and Weber 2008; Unbehaun et al 2008). Meier (1998) estimates the annual economic losses in Swiss winter tourism due to climate change at US$ 1.9 to 2.45 billion (with reference to an average temperature rise of 2uC, 2030–2050)
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