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The journey : From the place of origin to the destination
How can we make the journey shorter, less expensive and more sustainable ?

Enrico MARTINET - Journalist, La Stampa, Aosta (Italy)

 

There is no doubt that the transport system is today’s most pressing challenge for the Alps. And, it is not a subject we can put off until tomorrow.

Leisure and holiday time spent in the Alps is intrinsically linked with the possibility of accessing the resort and returning home without any problems. The transport organisation study should not only take the Alpine valleys into consideration but should also incorporate that already existing in the plains as well as future projects.

The question we are asking in this discussion, on how we can make travelling from our homes to holiday destinations shorter, less expensive and more sustainable, requires focusing on a country-wide system as well as on the connections with the rest of the world.

The transportation challenge compels us to redefine the Alpine economy. All of this may sound contradictory. However, the basic data of a project aimed at reviving the Alps as a holiday destination, does not involve a “restyling” of the tourism offer but an economic policy reform with the transport system at its heart. The transport system not being the goal but the means of the revival.

If this is the point of focus, then the objective in economic terms must encompass the Alpine valleys, the communities, the communes and the villages. It is for these areas that we must reset the balance and at the same time give them the power of appeal, to allow them to play a leading role in the revival programme. There is a need to focus attention on the lower ground rather than the upper ground. It would be short-sighted to pursue a programme based on the “restructuring of the upper mountain region” limited to the current transport means, i.e. the cableways.

The subject covered in today’s first debate, regarding the consequences of the “low cost carriers” on the development of the Alpine resorts, needs no further elaboration. It is clear that a rapid set-up and high concentration of holidaymakers, as imposed by the "low cost carrier", leads to diversity in holidaymaker demand in terms of hosting and set-up. Hence, the need, as I previously mentioned, of obtaining a transport system overview, which goes beyond just addressing the situation in the Alps. Less expensive flights, leading to high concentrations of travellers, may compel the mountain resorts towards a revolution that not only concerns urban planning.

You may have noticed that I have not yet addressed the issue of environmental protection. I have omitted this topic on purpose. I believe that the transportation challenge, which is based on an economic study of the Alpine environment, can only lead to a rebalancing of the environment. This may also sound contradictory but in reality it is consistent with a plan that is aimed at reducing development interests, particularly on higher ground, and boosting neighbouring resorts and villages, for which environmental protection is already a well-entrenched goal. The reduction in the average stay periods - approximately five days - and a high concentration of travellers arriving at the end of the week will increase traffic flows. A transportation plan should therefore incorporate a mixed system, shared between public and private transport modes. If the mountain communities wish to play a leading role and be capable of choosing a transport model, they must put themselves forward with authority and competence, through discussions with the plain authorities. The point of departure may only involve the transport modes that already exist.

The ski resorts have an unacceptable level of traffic and pollution. The car parks are not sufficient and the efficiency of the hosting services for tourists can only go from bad to worse. Transposing an urban lifestyle and traffic model to an alpine environment should be ruled out. Attempting to do so would be dooming any kind of development to failure. In this light, the transport system has, in addition to an economic value, a socio-political importance for the environment. Reflecting on new transport modes also means asserting the Alpine identity, which, let's not forget, is entrenched in a genetic heritage recognised for its slow pace.

The large railway tunnels reduce journey time and provide increasingly better access between the plains and the mountains. Our solution is based on this advantage: the train. A transport link system between the aeroplane and the car, car-train, aeroplane-train, railway-cableway. In this area, the alpine communities can and must make a selection. The freedom of holidaymakers should not be understood to be directly linked to private vehicles. Tourists should have freedom of choice in the mountain resorts and the car could be, as is the case already today, an obstacle to the freedom of movement. The recent example of Voralberg, in Austria, with the on-demand night bus and the "walserbus" during the day, which has very closely scheduled trips, or the further example of Zermatt in Switzerland, are still valid. Even Chamonix offers its guests the option of choosing between the road and the railway.

A more intelligent and large-scale use of public transport means necessitates an overhaul of the current hosting provision. This has consequences on jobs and businesses; economic consequences that could be highly advantageous either for the resorts or the neighbouring communes. Let's consider, by way of example, a resort that prohibits the use of cars, which as a consequence would require a nearby arrival point for the various means of transport. A station that can accommodate both the corporate offer and integrated services in order to gain access to the tourism offers on higher ground. And let us further consider the possibility of an urban revival and a strategy aimed at promoting the traditional arts and crafts businesses in the pedestrianised streets, which at present could not be attempted due to the excessive automobile traffic. I believe that the time has come for us to look downwards rather than to gaze upwards towards the mountain summits. It is absurd to have the desire to surprise the world by perching a restaurant or hotel on the summit of a mountain. That being said, there is already a project underway, involving a shopping centre that the Swiss wish to build on top of the Klein Matterhorn. The regions are about to lose their identity and, in turn, their charm. They are no longer places where we live but transit points. This is why we can speak about the colonisation of the Alps by tourism.