Mountain tourism: Best PracticesIoanna Papaioannou, Agronomist, Msc

WORKSHOP11/09/2012

Shelter of Greek Mountaineering Club of Nigrita

A mountain tourism destination can be defined as a geographical, economic and social entity that incorporates companies, organizations and activities, areas and infrastructure developed to satisfy special needs of mountain tourists (adapted from Flagestad & Hope, 2001)

Mountain tourism incorporates snow based tourism, adventure tourism, cultural tourism, ecotourism, pilgrimage and mass tourism (Godde, 1998) - Event tourism is also a part of mountain tourism (May, 1995)

For mountain destinations, attractiveness is closely linked to the perceptions and meanings of the mountains (Nepal & Chipeniuk, 2005)

Mountain tourism has been increasing in the past, constituting nowadays at least 20% of global tourism flows, with mountain destinations being the choice of 50 million tourists annually (Thomas, Gill & Hartmann, 2006)

Until very recently, tourism researches concerned with mountain places mainly focused on physical, ecological and environmental perspectives

Advantageous if most of the

year

Linkage between

communities and parks

Tourism in the mountains is vitally important to ensure sustainable social and economic development for people living in mountain/ rural areas. Mountain tourism has great potential to create vibrant communities in mountain regions and to increase their standard of living.

Tourists and people of tomorrow will surely need to escape from the congestion of towns and cities to enjoy nature; the mountains will be surely both their inspiration and spiritual fulfillment.