Communities can strengthen Alpine destinations
Resilient communities can minimise seasonal fluctuations in Alpine destinations. This is the conclusion of an ongoing research project by Andermatt Swiss Alps AG and partners. However, the development of such communities is time-consuming and cost-intensive.
Community building is an approach that can be used to minimise seasonal fluctuations in Alpine destinations and combine tourism with living space, Andermat Swiss Alps AG explains in a press release. Together with Bregaglia Engadin Turismo and the Graubünden University of Applied Sciences, it has launched a research project funded by Innotour to explore ways of building resilient communities. The research partners have now presented their initial findings in a recent report.
In the report, communities are understood as networks with a group identity. In mountain regions, they form in different compositions of locals, second home residents, guests, employees and employers. According to the researchers’ findings, three areas are crucial for the development of communities. Firstly, the understanding of identity at the centre of each of these communities. The second and third areas are collective experience and structure.
According to the press release, building and expanding resilient communities is time-consuming and costly. The communities “require coordination, maintenance and moderation, which in turn emphasises the targeted activation of individual community members”.