Sustainable tourism

Once the preserve of an elite, tourism has become a mass phenomenon and a driving force in the global economy.

According to the World Tourism Organization, 1.5 billion international tourists traveled in 2019.

But visitors are increasingly focusing on certain tourist sites, causing them to become overcrowded.

If unregulated, this phenomenon of

overtourism

then exerts multiple pressures:

• the environment (pressure on ecosystems, pollution caused by tourism, overconsumption of natural resources);
• on the sites visited which are not always adapted to accommodate many travelers and lack infrastructure;
• on local life (lack of housing for the inhabitants, multiple nuisances).

How can we continue to develop tourism while ensuring that it is economically, socially and environmentally sustainable?

Local authorities have already adopted measures to protect their cities and communities.

Payment of an entrance fee, setting of a quota of visitors or management of tourist rentals.

Whether economic, security or health crises also weaken the countries concerned and call into question their tourism model.

The COVID-19 pandemic could change travelers' behavior.

Are we moving towards the development of green tourism, which incorporates respect for nature and the reduction of the carbon footprint?

Or that of the

slow travel

, on

slow travel

which consists in soaking up a place and staying there longer?

1st tourist destination in the world with 90 million foreigners visitors, France is particularly affected.

Within the framework of

France Relance

In the wake of the crisis, a Sustainable Tourism Fund has been created to support tourism operators in their transition to sustainable tourism.

France has also launched a plan

Future Mountains

to offer a sustainable tourism offer without giving up on activities related to skiing.