Climate change in low mountain ranges: Opportunities in sustainable Black Forest tourism

Authors

  • Tatjana Thimm Professor for Tourism Management at the Department of Business, Cultural and Legal Studies at Hochschule Konstanz, University of Applied Sciences, Germany; Alfred-Wachtel-Str. 8, 78462 Konstanz, Germany, Phone +49 7531 206-145. E-mail: Tatjana.Thimm@htwg-konstanz.de
  • Christine Bild Graduate Geographer, Junior Researcher in the Department of Business, Cultural and Legal Studies at Hochschule Konstanz, University of Applied Sciences
  • Michael Kalff PhD in Education for Sustainable Development, researcher in the Department of Business, Cultural and Legal Studies at Hochschule Konstanz, University of Applied Sciences

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54055/ejtr.v23i.389

Keywords:

sustainable tourism, climate change, winter tourism

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to portray the risks of climate change for low mountain range tourism and to develop sustainable business models as adaption strategy. A mixed-method-approach is applied combining secondary analysis, a quantitative survey, and qualitative in-depth-interviews in a transdisciplinary setting. Results show, that until now, climate change impacts on the snow situation in the Black Forest – at least above 1,000 m – have been mild and compensated by artificial snowmaking, and up to now have not had measurable effects on tourism demand. In general, the Black Forest appears to be an attractive destination for more reasons than just snow. The climate issue seems to be regarded as a rather incidental occurrence with little importance to current business decisions. However, the authors present adaption strategies as alternatives for snow tourism, e. g. the implementation of hiking hostels, since climate change will make winter tourism in the Black Forest impossible in the long run.

Downloads

Published

2019-10-01

How to Cite

Thimm, T., Bild, C., & Kalff, M. (2019). Climate change in low mountain ranges: Opportunities in sustainable Black Forest tourism. European Journal of Tourism Research, 23, 63–70. https://doi.org/10.54055/ejtr.v23i.389

Issue

Section

Special issue section