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How should tourist development be conducted in a way that maintains a harmonious balance between the production of wealth and the preservation of the environment ?

Ernest NYCOLLIN - President of the Haute-Savoie County Council, Annecy, France

 

 

Minister, Honoured guests and Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of the Departmental Assembly of Haute-Savoie, allow me first of all to welcome you and to wish you all a very pleasant stay in Chamonix at the heart of the western Alps.

I would also like to warmly greet Michel CHARLET and the population of the Mont Blanc region, and say that it is with enthusiasm that I welcome these first "Summits of Tourism". Every now and again, faced with the development of an economy whose laws are becoming increasingly complex, we must realise how vital it is for us to consider our society's evolution.

And the theme chosen for these first "Summits of Tourism" illustrates this point perfectly.

How should tourist development be conducted in a way that maintains a harmonious balance between the production of wealth and the preservation of the environment ?

The presence of the many foreign specialists and researchers will no doubt enable us to find an answer to globalisation, a phenomenon that the tourism industry was one of the first to take into account.

However, being responsible for our highly alpine region, we feel preoccupied by this problem even if our million tourist beds in Savoie and Haute-Savoie combined forces us to be modest. We are also concerned because tourism is one of the most important natural resources in our region.

• Winter and summer sports in Chamonix both rely on water and we all agree that the quality of water remains one of the major questions of the future.
• The mountain, an environment with a fragile equilibrium, provides the tempo for all the elements of our economy, from its rural base to its industrial developments. The respect of fragile, especially humid, nature zones, is one of our concerns.
• Finally, the geographical position of the Savoie, at the heart of Europe, being an area of transition between the north and the south, forces us to make choices, notably in terms of transport, where reality is confronted with impractical solutions.

I hope that these few issues tell you of the importance that Haute- Savoie places on these first "Summits of Tourism".

Our Departmental Assembly, well aware of the significance of these implications, has chosen to back these much needed talks for the tourist industry for at least three years.

Haute-Savoie knows how necessary this balance is to development. This development will initially benefit the region's population, in other words, those who for centuries have been able to preserve the potential of wealth today.

It is therefore up to us to learn from past experience and if possible, to try to do even better.

Thank you for your attention and for your active participation.