With the support of regional economic cycles, it will be easier to make the much-cited "good life in the Alps" possible for its inhabitants: The farmer will use his mountain meadows to produce special foods and not let them become overgrown if they find buyers in local hospitality businesses or in the village store. In turn, people find work there. If there are income opportunities in the village, fewer people are forced to commute or even emigrate, and young families are given prospects for the future, which they take as an incentive to build a future in the village. All this, and much more, is part of the sustainable development of rural regions, to which an authentic, tourist offer can contribute.
Sustainable travel
In addition to the offer, the behavior of visitors is also one side of the "sustainable travel" coin. After all, they are the ones who look for, make use of or even demand the offer. For guests who choose their destination because it is a mountaineering village, the quality promise of this certificate is crucial. This example shows that incentives, information and a little public relations work with the right target groups - as the Alpine associations do for their mountaineering villages - are necessary: an interview with tourism researcher Wolfgang Günther was recently published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, who came to the following conclusion in a study on sustainable vacation travel: Only 4% of respondents in the presented study said that aspects of sustainability were decisive for their travel decision, whereas 56% of respondents said they would like to travel sustainably. There is still a lot of room between these two figures, but according to Günther, there is also potential. "People travel to do something good for themselves - not the environment. You want to have a good time, enjoy life, give the year a highlight. If it's necessary to break our resolutions, then that's what we do: we give ourselves an exemption for our vacations. You don't go on vacation because you want to be sustainable, but despite it," says Günther.
In my opinion, what these figures and the statement also make clear is that the call to "Be environmentally friendly!" or even "...sustainable!" still acts as a deterrent. It makes sense to many, but the hurdle to incorporating the resolution into everyday life is high. On the one hand, the number of things that need to be done differently calls previous practice into question and, on the other, the number of measures required is overwhelming. But as with mountaineering, the same applies here: One step at a time and weigh up which route is the most feasible with the equipment you have with you. If many players - local initiatives, committed Alpine residents and sensitized visitors to the Alps - apply small measures, paths to a desirable future will open up. As Alpine associations and sponsors of the Mountaineering Villages initiative, we hope to be able to contribute to a good life in the Alps in this way.
