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  Conclusions

Prof. Peter KELLER - Chairman of the scientific committee of the tourism Summit

 

 

Provisional synthesis for the Chamonix-Mont-Blanc “tourism Summit”

The Maslow pyramid and the tourism Summit

 

 

The Chamonix-Mont-Blanc conference cycle dealt with the ecological, economic and social aspects of sustainable tourism development in 1999, 2000 and 2001. The cycle closes in 2002 with a debate on the cultural aspects of sustainable tourism. The Summits have dealt with aspects of tourism potential which, when tapped can meet human needs according to the hierarchy of the well known Maslow pyramid. It is a fact that this conference cycle has helped to make participants more aware of the beauty of nature. It has also shown clearly the ways in which it is possible to take advantage of the opportunities for endogenous growth, at the same time looking into the question of the redistribution of wealth. This time round we shall look at two key aspects of modern tourism: the manufacture of dreams and the restoration of value to cultural resources. We shall draw our inspiration from the “summit of summits”, symbolised by Mont Blanc (see chart).

1999 : Avoiding waste and reducing pollution

The First Summits in December 1999 were devoted to the ecological aspects of sustainable tourism development. Among other things we learned that the regions that attract visitors tend to be ecologically fragile. The link between tourism and the environment is thus a very close one. Management of the ecological problems which arise from travelling to and staying in tourism regions proves to be a particularly difficult, complex and long-term task. All the more so as it is not possible to manage this blue planet in the way you can manage a company. But even if we cannot escape the law of entropy, and it can be argued that life on earth is in any case ephemeral, that is no reason for adopting a wait-and-see attitude and failing to do everything in our power to improve the ecological situation.

In the conflict of interest between making the best economic use of a site and ensuring its protection, our fundamental duty is nonetheless to save the few remaining natural landscapes that are still intact and to reduce tourism-related hypermobility as much as possible. The following important question urgently needs to be answered: is there a risk that the behaviour of tourists from the industrialised world will be copied by new tourists from other countries ?

Put another way, could the ecology of our planet survive the mushrooming of tourism on a truly worldwide basis? The question is all the more crucial in view of the impossibility of forbidding anyone to travel.

2000 : Contributing to sustained and qualitative growth

The second Summits, in December 2000, brought to life the contradictory nature of the two objectives: achieving growth in tourism, and protecting the environment. We reached the conclusion that neither excessive growth nor insufficient growth serve the cause of sustainable development. Imposing a ceiling on growth or trying to reduce it in the most popular tourism regions, while certainly desirable from the purely ecological point of view, is unfortunately not compatible with a market economy system, which operates on the basis of the rarity value of material goods. Given the strength of competition in the world tourism market, it is impossible to guarantee over the long term the revenues necessary for the survival of companies once the number of visitors begins to stagnate or fall. Nor would insufficient economic growth benefit the population or limit the harm that tourism does to the environment, either at the local or international level.

Tourism is generally regarded as a booming sector of the economy. This view is usually based on aggregate figures at both the national and international levels. These reflect the extension of the world market, but not the reality of everyday tourism. In the battlefield of international tourism there are both winners and losers as a result of fierce competition on a worldwide basis. There is no guarantee of lasting growth either at the level of the destination or of the individual tourism enterprise. We reminded ourselves that demand is volatile in the field of tourism, being exposed to a whole series of disturbing outside factors. We also found a consolidation of growth in the traditional tourism regions. Tourism service providers are often unable to show sufficient earnings to attract large sums of outside capital. In these cases tourism cannot produce the desired effect on employment and revenues, and it then becomes difficult to finance modernisation of the products and services.

2001 : Improving well-being and the quality of life

Neither protection of the environment nor sustained growth can be considered as ends in themselves. They only make sense as objectives when they serve the individual and the community. This is what we refer to as the social aspect of sustainable development. As was pointed out at the very beginning of this conference cycle the concept of sustainable development is not a harmonious one. It is unable to resolve important conflicts of interest, particularly as we have seen when it comes to conflicting economic and ecological interests. Finding complete solutions or at the very least partial ones is only possible through the application of such values as justice and legitimacy, not by enforcing the law of the strongest. The Code mondial d’éthique du tourisme of the World Tourism Organisation (WTO) which we discussed at the opening of the 3 es Summits, in Genève, proposes a new deontology for the sustainable development of tourism. It invites actors in the sector of tourism to respect – by means of a code of ethics and by assuming responsibility – certain rules designed to humanise the dynamics of tourism. The debate showed that this new instrument is not merely a finger-pointing exercise. It is intended to inspire rather than to dictate, and it is based on the principle of subsidiarity. It is the job of the actors themselves to find the right solutions to the development problems they face.

Tourism is a development instrument par excellence. It make it possible to transfer some of the prosperity from the centres to outlying areas. The debate in Geneva showed that a great many developing countries have managed to benefit from international tourism, putting them on the road to a market economy. They managed to commercialise as yet little known attractions while offering products that are interesting from the point of view both of quality and price. They need it is true to have acquired a certain level of development to be able to adapt to international tourism’s requirements in terms of comfort and quality. We also need to bear in mind however that tourism is often one of the only sources of hard currency for the poorer countries.

The dynamics of tourism also benefit the traditional tourism regions and resorts. The debates which took place in Chamonix nonetheless demonstrated that tourism sites often lose their attraction for those who live there. Depending on their geographical situation they may suffer from the “suction effect” of the major centres that tend to monopolise the factors of production such as human resources and capital. Tourism sites become the hinterland of the agglomerations. Their infrastructure and the range of jobs, often of insufficient interest to residents, correspond less and less to the level of skills and abilities acquired by younger generations.

It has been observed that it would be necessary to rejuvenate, improve and diversify the economic structures of tourism sites in order to come to terms with what might be called the “tourism exodus”. Our debates have made it clear that such a strategy is above all necessary for renewing the supply of tourism products and services, which suffer from the life cycle phenomenon. It is also necessary to constantly improve the existing structures with the help of far-sighted investments, as the Principality of Monaco has successfully demonstrated. As for diversification of the economic fabric, it has been found that this has its limits : Davos, which may well lose its World Economic Forum is a case in point. Economic reconversion whether for tourism sites or industrial ones is scarcely an option, as the Belluno region of Italy has discovered. Faced with fierce competition from the multinationals this region of the Dolomite mountains, for years one of the world’s leading producers of spectacles, is now trying to recycle itself as a tourism destination.

Although the possibilities for diversifying tourism sites are limited one can at least try to improve their productivity, through rationalisation and increasing their profitability so as to be able to guarantee worthwhile jobs to local residents. Such a strategy requires striking a balance between a service economy such as the hotel trade, and a self-service economy based on apartments for rent and second homes. In any case a reduction in the cost of production is called for, if only to combat the competition from newly emerging tourism countries. The emergence of a new experience economy – which is able to improve individual well-being thanks to productivity gains and the wealth produced by an industry that is improving its ability to offer highly personalised services – offers new hope to the service-oriented tourism of the traditional tourism sites.

The debates in Chamonix have also shown that there is ever greater awareness at the level of local communities as to the need for making tourism development more sustainable. These are ready to do battle with the international travel industry which tries to exploit local development potential by applying global strategies. Local governments are also increasingly prepared to participate in the management of sites through a new public private partnership. Chamonix has no desire to end up as a mere point of transit. As the largest alpine resorts it is ready to take development into its own hands, as the participation of the local authority in the management of the cable car infrastructure in the framework of the « Compagnie du Mont-Blanc » makes clear. Aspen, Colorado in the Rocky Mountains controls tourism development and makes it more sustainable through a policy designed to avoid the squandering of resources and pollution. The island of Capri in Italy, long celebrated in the annals of international tourism, has taken the step of having its ecological authenticity certified in accordance with ISO standards.

2002 : Living in the global village while developing a multi-faceted local cultural identity

The tourism phenomenon cannot be taken out of its cultural context. Devoted to the manufacture and commercialisation of dreams, tourism depends to a great extent on cultural resources. But it is also an integral part of a new worldwide event-based culture. Tourism accelerates the process of globalisation. It helps to level the cultural differences that incite potential visitors to travel. This trend is nonetheless counterbalanced by the growing need of potential visitors to return to local cultural sources that give meaning to the lives of individuals. The interest in cultural monuments and traditional cultural events is growing. Artificial worlds and virtual reality are beginning however to challenge traditional cultural resources. These “spaces” are independent, since they are not linked to any given site, and they give rise to the problem of authenticity being replaced by simulation. The traditional tourism destinations find themselves competing with substitutes such as theme parks, which offer a new reality that often incorporates modern cultural elements. They can meet this challenge by integrating elements of local culture with local tourism products . The ties between tourism and culture are thus in a constant state of flux. Certain older concepts including that of acculturation which defines visitors as intruders responsible for culture shock in local communities are today in need of revision. On the one hand the cultural levelling brought about by the “global village” helps to reduce conflict. And on the other it is tourism itself which is responsible for encouraging local populations to rediscover their traditions, often half forgotten. Moreover the kind of tourism that is all about relaxing and just having fun no longer seems to inspire as many visitors as it once did. Instead we are seeing a return to a tourism concerned about the meaning of life, the “otherness” of peoples, and the uniqueness of the cultures and countries they visit. This new cultural tourism is today growing at an unexpectedly fast pace.

Draft programme

The objective of the 4 th Sommets du tourisme is to discuss the new paradigms emerging in tourism destinations due to the intermingling of four different cultures: the tourism sub-culture, the service culture, the culture of everyday life and the traditional cultures of visitors. This creates an interesting new situation, which is itself a cultural innovation. True it also create new tension, but even so it can lead to exciting new solutions and ways of approaching the new, the unexpected, “the other”.

The scientific committee will do its best to draw up a conceptual framework and a provisional programme that take the following into account :

• Tourism as a dream factory and a way of restoring value to cultural resources : creating illusions and putting the spotlight on cultural resources for the purpose of tourism
• Tourism’s new market potential in the area of culture : the development and commercialisation of new strategic products
• Tourism as a vehicle for cultural exchange : the growth of a world economy based on experience and participation in events is contributing to universal convergence
• Tourism as a quest for authentic experience : the relativity and multiple meanings of the concept of authenticity in the tourism experience
• Tourism as a way of preserving cultural heritage : stimulating interest and encouraging demand for visiting monuments and participating in traditional cultural events
• Tourism’s role in preserving the cultural identity of a site : integrating elements of local culture in tourism products
• Tourism and the creation of a new travel and tourism culture : going deeper into the cultural aspects of the tourism experience and the meaning of life

 

Conclusions

Greater respect for the cultural aspects of tourism help to make tourism development more sustainable.

A year after the catastrophe that struck international tourism in 2001, it seems important to go over these questions again with tourism actors and experts from the four corners of the earth.