Creating A Sustainable Equilibrium Between Mountain Communities and Tourism Development

For millennia, mountain regions have been important centres for human livelihood. The economies and lifestyles of these areas have been built around traditional forms of resource use such as forestry, mining, agriculture, livestock grazing as well as the transport and trading of goods. However, more recent trends in economic globalization have contributed to escalating marginalization of many mountain communities, to the point where the residents of these areas have become economically disadvantaged and their natural resources degraded to a point where they are non-marketable. In partial response to these realities, as well as the expanding demand for leisure travel, a variety of forms of tourism development are being introduced to these alpine regions at escalating rates.

In this context, tourism is becoming a primary source of revenue for many mountain areas, providing opportunities for mountain communities to participate directly in new economies. It is estimated that that as much as 15-20% of the tourist industry, or US$ 70-90 billion per year, is accounted for by mountain tourism activities (Mountain Agenda 1999). In contrast to the generally small contribution of mountain regions to national economies, the value of mountain tourism to many regions is very significant. (Zimmerman 1995, Price et al. 1997). Many opportunities for the development of tourism in mountain regions exist. However, this form of development also brings management challenges for alpine communities and their tourism industry counterparts. It is some of these challenges which are identified and addressed in this volume of Tourism Recreation Research.