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  Chamonix : a contribution to a world problem

Michel CHARLET - Mayor of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, France

 

In 1741, an English expedition led by Windham and Pococke, left Geneva for the glaciers of Savoie.

They gave the Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice) its name and related, in French, the story of their journey. By focusing attention on Chamonix, the town became known to the literary world and mountain tourism was invented. Other expeditions were to follow, including that of Martel, Bourrit and Saussure on a more scientific level. The latter was behind the challenge to conquer the ascent of Mont Blanc, a feat achieved in 1786 by two men, Paccard and Balmat.

In 1816, at the end of the Napoleonic Wars, travelling became much easier and tourism started to develop in Chamonix resulting in the opening of the Union hotel, one of the first grand hotels in Europe.

The small Sarde town of Chamonix prepared itself to welcome important European guests. In 1860, when the Savoie region was once again part of France, Napoléon III visited the new province and equipped it with modern infrastructures and a road was built opening up access to Chamonix.

This was also an important mountaineering period and many great ascents were made by English, French and Swiss climbers competing to conquer the summits. Famous climbs were carried out by members of the Alpine Club and Edward Whymper who started his assault of the Chamonix Aiguilles (peaks).

Les Grandes Jorasses and the Aiguille Verte were soon conquered and in 1852, Albert Smith organised an exhibition of his ascent of Mont Blanc in London which was to last for five years.

1901 was a decisive year for tourism in Chamonix. In July the resort's railway was inaugurated which opened up Chamonix in the winter and enabled the town to exploit its hotels during both the summer and winter seasons and profit from the new enthusiasm for winter sports. The town, as a result, was substantially developed.

Towards 1905 the unique ice skating rink with an areas of 22,000 square meters was created and was host to many sporting activities during the winter including ice skating and ice hockey matches which were watched by more than 3,000 people. The first major season was in 1906-1907, partly thanks to the initiative of the French Alpine Club (CAF) which organised local winter sports competitions. The Olympic year of 1924 was a success for the resort and resulted in winter sports becoming truly popular.

Chamonix became the "best and most ancient resort". In 1930, Chamonix could count 50 hotels including 2 palaces, 3,000 beds and more than 50,000 visitors in summer.

At the same time as the town was changing, the mountain was developed with paths and tracks, auberges and mountain huts. In 1892 the building of the Montenvers rack and pinion railway was started.

Hotel owners embarked on a commercial approach and gradually replaced the farmers and mountain guides at the town council who contested the mountain's mechanical facilities, which they believed unbalanced the valley's social and economic structure. The opening of the Glaciers cable car in 1924 followed by the Brévent in 1928, confirmed Chamonix's vocation as a major European summer and winter resort.

From 1945 onwards, the development intensified leading to an inevitable increase in facilities. This led the State to take conservatory measures including making the Mont Blanc a protected site above 2000 metres in 1951.

These protective measures, which were highly disputed at the time, are now seen as highly fortunate for our natural environment. Can you imagine an urban development at that altitude encompassing the Col de Balme, the Col de Voza or seeing modern amenities installed on the prestigious summits ? The most outrageous projects may well have seen the light of day.

On the subject of controlling development, the story of the Mont Blanc tunnel is a wealth of information. Originally conceived as a means of encouraging international tourist exchanges between France and Italy, the tunnel has gradually become the principle route for transporting goods between southern and northern Europe and it is forecast that today's traffic will have doubled by 2015.

In 1998, 800,000 lorries used the tunnel. It is true that when the tunnel was opened nobody had envisaged such an increase in traffic and what seemed at the time a sign of progress for Chamonix, is now a major cause for concern.

The increasing importance of ecological movements and the growing awareness of local populations with regards to the protection of their natural resources led to the creation of protected zones and natural reserves.

However related legislation and rules have proved limited with system for defining zones being sometimes non-adapted. For example, atmospheric pollution has an impact on natural habitats right up to 4000 metres and certain sectors are over-frequented which poses real problems in terms of tourist flow management. The accepted notion of sustainable development must now be a basis for all decisions and must give rise to numerous debates in order to achieve integrated land management.

The "Espace Mont-Blanc" is a good example of this desire for sustainable development.

In 1991, the project for an International Mont Blanc Park by the French, Swiss and Italian governments at the request of various associations again raised the problem of protecting the "roof of Europe".

Determined not to embark on a scheme of passive protection, elected representatives of the regions concerned, notably Valais in Switzerland, the Aosta Valley in Italy and Savoie and Haute-Savoie in France, asked the Ministers of the Environment to set up an original and transfrontalier system, namely the Espace Mont-Blanc which will be the subject of discussion in these first tourist summits.

In favour of an active development of the mountain with a balance drawn between protection and promotion, this approach has the advantage of involving local populations in the evolution of their land whilst, by using scientific and judicial studies, searching for means of efficiently protecting both the natural and cultural heritage.

Determined not to embark on a scheme of passive protection, elected representatives of the regions concerned, notably Valais in Switzerland, the Aosta Valley in Italy and Savoie and Haute-Savoie in France, asked the Ministers of the Environment to set up an original and transfrontalier system, namely the Espace Mont-Blanc which will be the subject of discussion in these first tourist summits.

In favour of an active development of the mountain with a balance drawn between protection and promotion, this approach has the advantage of involving local populations in the evolution of their land whilst, by using scientific and judicial studies, searching for means of efficiently protecting both the natural and cultural heritage.

I am aware, Minister, of the importance you place on discussions and the exchange of experiences. These first Summits of Tourism have beendesigned on these lines and it is hoped that they become a permanent place bringing together countries and helping towards controlleddevelopment. Representatives from French-speaking countries arrived in Chamonix yesterday and have made the same observation. In this contextwe would be very happy to play host to the first meeting of ministers of tourism of French-speaking countries that you are hoping to set up.

Chamonix, one of the forerunners of tourism, is, we believe, a suitable place for world meetings so that political decision makers, economic,university and associative players can get together to bring about the tourism of the future.

Thank you all very much for coming here. I would especially like to thank the partners who have both supported and been involved in thisconference : the ministers of tourism, the environment and foreign affairs; the Rhône-Alpes region, the Council of Haute Savoie, the Geneva tourist office, Geneva airport, Swissair and the Accor group.

Finally my thanks go to the Mont Blanc-Léman Observatory and to the scientific committee headed by Peter Keller who organised these summits.

May these Summits of Tourism be of benefit to you all.