Global Change and Mountains: Consequences, Responses and Opportunities - Impact of Global Changes on Mountains: Responses and Adaptation - page 116

Despite encouraging projections about the growth of global tourism
industry by the World Travel Organization (WTO), and a wider offer than
ever, such as, sports, heritage and wellness, mountain tourism is experiencing
uncertainty, stress and crisis across the world. Since, climate is one of the
crucial factors affecting the tourist, locale, connectivity, requirement of water
and energy and various tourism stakeholders directly as well as indirectly;
the nature-based tourism in the mountain regions is highly vulnerable to
change in climatic conditions. Although the direct as well indirect impacts
of climate change on tourism in mountains would vary widely according
to geographical location, tourist settings, infrastructure and tourist seasons,
yet keeping in view the inaccessibility, fragility, marginality, diversity and
niche of the region the climate change may bring considerable uncertainties
in tourism economy, particularly the mountains regions of developing
countries, such as the Himalaya and Andes (Jodha et al. 2002, Dyurgerov
and Meier 2005). In the European Alps, climate and geo-cultural changes
are causing great uncertainty and crisis in tourism industry. In this context,
climate change is likely to act as an indicator for structural contradictions
and weaknesses of alpine tourism as well as booster for cultural, geographic
and economic revolution in the tourism industry in the Alps.
The changing global economic order is having wide ranging and
long-term implications to tourism growth and development across the
world. Keeping in view the foreseen uncertainties in world economy these
impacts are likely to intensify in the near future and affect tourism industry
in mountains. The economic recession that crumpled the global economy
during 2008-2012 has unprecedented and depressing impact on all sectors
of economy including tourism across the world. The tourism industry in
the European Alps is currently facing challenges by major global changes
such as, economic instability and market uncertainty and consequent loss
of shares in the tourist market in the Alpine countries throughout Europe;
competition from other tourist destinations, the growing economic and
territorial divide between large and small resorts, new recreational practices,
the ageing of the tourist population, demands for environmental quality,
the changed notion of resort, the social issue of seasonal work, the need
for huge new investments against the background of a reduction of public
funding, and risk management (UNWTO 2010). However, the growth
in international tourism recorded an increasing trend at the end of 2009
(UNWTO 2010). For example, in part of the Indian Himalaya, the global
fi nancial crisis did not have much adverse impact on tourism. This is clearly
brought out by the trends of tourist growth in the region during 2008-2009
when the region recorded a tourist growth of more than 186% during 2000-
2009, even though the region has not been able to attract foreign tourists in
signifi cant number during the period. But, it is particularly interesting to
note that during the period of global fi nancial crisis (2008-2009) the region