Sustainable Mountain Development - Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions - page 616

FIGURE 12.9 Amenity migrants working in nearby towns gradually replace the local subsistence
farming community, a process often accompanied by intensive construction and reconstruction
activities, as in this small village near Kranj, northern Slovenia. (Photo by T. Kohler.)
DEVELOPING INTEGRATED AND LONG-TERM PERSPECTIVES
The long-term unpredictability and seasonality of almost every type of mountain tourism
imply the need to develop it to be complementary to other economic sectors. Similarly,
while amenity migrants may bring new resources to mountain communities, they will
not necessarily stay for the long term; this is especially true of foreigners who move
to attractive locations in developing countries, but leave when conditions do not turn
out to be as they had expected, or change (Price et al. 1997; Moss 2006). The rapid de-
velopment of both tourism and amenity migration typically creates great demands and
stresses on local families, communities, and infrastructure (e.g., Gurung and DeCoursey
2000; Saffery 2000). Rather than shifting too far into providing goods and services for
tourists, people working in tourism and for amenity migrants need to maintain their op-
portunities for employment and earnings in other ways, whether in agriculture, forestry,
industry, handicrafts, tele-working, or commuting in the off-season.
A further reason to maintain diverse opportunities is the fact that many aspects of
tourism may be influenced not only by changes in tourism markets, but also by cli-
mate change. For instance, the skiing industry is highly sensitive to climate change in
at least two ways: first, if snow is not available, or cannot be made, particularly during
major holiday periods (Agrawala 2007); second, if increases in natural hazards lead to
the closure of access roads and the decommissioning of cable cars and ski lifts (Nöthi-
ger and Elsasser 2004). More broadly, climate change may affect the attractiveness of
mountain landscapes, a key reason for both tourists and amenity migrants to come to
mountain areas. On the other hand, higher summer temperatures at lower altitudes may