Climate Change and Tourism - UNEP - Division of Technology ...

UNWTO, 9 July 2008
Impacts and Adaptation at Tourism Destinations
While the large energy use for snow-making is a very valid concern, both technical and regionally
specific social factors must be considered in evaluating its sustainability. Technologically, snowmaking
can be done with renewable energy and thus not contribute further to climate change. In
the United States, 58 ski resorts now purchase renewable energy (primarily wind) for part of their
operational energy use, and 28 purchase 100% of their energy needs from renewable sources. A
number of ski areas are also building on-site renewable capacity. For example, the Whistler Resort
in British Columbia, Canada, has built both a micro-hydro plant (run-of-river) and wind turbines
that generate enough power for all of its snow-making, lift and resort operations. Increasing the
energy efficiency, particularly of older systems which can be improved 25–50%, and the use of
renewable power must be a urgent goal for all ski areas that use snow-making.
The broader social context of regional tourism activity must be considered when determining the
net impact of additional snow-making activity on GHG emissions. If local ski areas are forced
to close because of unreliable natural snow conditions, potentially thousands of skier visits may
be displaced to other ski destinations or other forms of tourism. Alternate ski destinations may
be nearby (less than 100 km away), but as was found in a study of potential ski area closures
in the New England region of the USA 470 , in many cases ski tourism may be transferred 500
km or more, with attendant emissions from car, coach, rail or even air travel. If no alternate ski
holiday is available regionally, skiers may opt for much more GHG intensive travel options. For
example, the poor ski conditions in the European Alps in the winter of 2006–2007 generate a
much higher than usual number of European skiers visiting ski resorts in the Rocky Mountains of
North America. More comprehensive analysis of the GHG intensity of holiday options and the
potential adaptation of winter sports tourists is required to understand the net emissions impact of
additional snow-making.
Figure 9.13 The widespread climate adaptation of snow-making
Photo credit: Boyne USA Resorts, Inc.,
Product and market diversification are common adaptation strategies to cope with the business challenges
of pronounced tourism seasonality. Over the past three decades, many ski areas in North America and
Europe have diversified their operations beyond traditional ski activities to include the provision of skiing
and snowboarding lessons, accommodation and retail sales. The Economist 471 referred to the transition
of major ski resorts in North America from ski areas to winter theme parks, as the ‘Disneyfication’
of the winter sports industry. A similar pattern was found for visitors to winter resorts in France and
Switzerland. 472, 473 Many ski resorts have made substantial investments to provide alternate activities for
non-skiing visitors (e.g., snowmobiling, skating, dog sled-rides, indoor pools, health and wellness spas,
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