Contribution of Swiss mountain lakes to the well-being of tourists and day-trippers

Transcription

1 Contribution of Swiss mountain lakes to the well-being of tourists and day-trippers Rafael Matos-Wasem & Gilles Rudaz, WG2, 4 September 2013 Tourism, Wellbeing and Ecosystem Services COST Action TObeWELL First seminar Wageningen, 3-5 September 2013 Page 1

2 Research project Swiss mountain lakes: evolution and future of leisure, tourism and well-being. State Secretariat for Education and Research (SER), Swiss COST Competence Centre. Starting date: 1 January Duration: 33 months. Keywords: mountain lakes / tourism / leisure / well-being / blue spaces / ecosystem services / perception / conflicts of use / nature / outdoor activities. Main aim: representations individuals have from health and well-being they obtain from mountain lakes or perceive in them. Page 2

3 Mountain lakes (1) Important asset for Swiss tourism. Have however retained little scholarly attention from tourism research. Role these lakes play in the attractiveness of tourist destinations in mountain areas of Switzerland. Try to explain the fondness mountain lakes arise in tourists and visitors. Main objective: contribution of mountain lakes to the well-being of visitors and tourists through the prism of non-material and cultural ecosystem services. Little attention has been devoted to cultural services, as they appear as less tangible. Page 3

4 Page 4 Landscape images (1948)

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6 Mountain lakes (2) Also examine how growth of tourism could jeopardize the ecosystem services which contribute to the tourists well-being. Our research will be based on 15 or more case studies all over the Swiss Alps. Team: Raimund Rodewald (Swiss Foundation for Landscape Conservation, Bern) & Andrea Baranzini (professor of economics, Geneva School of Business Administration). Support provided by students of the School of Management & Tourism, University of Applied Sciences & Arts of Western Switzerland (field work, literature search). Also one or two bachelor theses a year. Page 6

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8 Objectives Main objectives: contribution of mountain lakes to the well-being of tourists. Also role these lakes play in the attractiveness of destinations in mountain areas of Switzerland. Secondary objectives: How are health and well-being benefits derived from these lakes integrated into tourism marketing and promotion strategies. Evolution of the perception of mountain lakes (also tourism marketing). Insights into how to conciliate competing water uses (tourism, hydroelectricity ). Insights into how to conciliate competing tourist and leisure uses. Integration of lakes in tourist destinations without jeopardizing their future tourist attractiveness. Prospective look at the new mountain lakes that will emerge during 21 st century. Page 8

9 500 to 600 glacier lakes will emerge in the Swiss Alps by the end of the present century. Page 9 Trift lake

10 category/lakes Page 10 Trift suspension bridge (near Gadmen)

11 Methods and approaches Iconography: Ancient and contemporary postcards, tourism posters, photographs. Pictures uploaded by visitors on websites (Panoramio, Flickr ). Trace the evolution of the aesthetic and well-being dimensions of the various types of lacustrine landscapes. Written documents: tourist brochures, travel diaries, present-day travel blogs. Aim: help us to determine a categorization of users based on their perception and use of lacustrine landscapes and resources. Interviews. In-depth interviews with visitors in order to gain insight information into visitor preferences (fine categorization). In-depth interviews with a large array of stakeholders. Identification of types of spatial evolution: representations exert concrete impacts on land (landscape change, infrastructures, real estate market). Based on field work, cartographic interpretation, iconographic analysis, statistical data. Page 11

12 Work packages WP 1. Definition of the research protocols (theoretical developments, construction of a typology of mountain lakes ). WP 2. Social imaginaries projected onto mountain lakes (altogether mountain & water; lacustrine tourism; historical dimensions of these social imaginaries, especially regarding well-being). WP 3. Case studies (15 or +; role of students; selection based on several criteria and information sources, e.g. Federal Inventory of Landscapes & Natural Monuments of National Importance). WP 4. Prospective (future use of present mountain lakes and the emerging glacier lakes; competing uses of these mountain lakes: hydroelectricity, tourism, conservation). WP 5. Analytical synthesis (answer core question -contribution of mountain lakes to the well-being of tourists and users- and secondary questions; provide insights on how these lakes could be better and more sustainably integrated into tourism strategies, while minimizing conflicts with other uses). Page 12

13 Time schedule [1 January September 2016] Elaboration of the conceptual framework and of the research protocols and methods. Identification and selection of the 15 or more case studies. Field work (preparation and launching, including in-depth interviews, participant observation). Data analysis (iconography, text documents, spatial development). Empirical and theoretical synthesis. Dissemination of results through final report, scientific and general public journals, workshops (conveying political, economic and tourism stakeholders & practitioners) and an international conference (in close cooperation with the Lake Tourism Research Network, Sierre, 2016). Perhaps also best and good practices brochure. Page 13