Glacial+tourism

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Land in Glacial Areas - []

Tourism in glaciated areas: The French Alps - Chamonix

__**Location:**__
 * North-western part of the Alps
 * 15km from the Swiss border/15km from the Italien border
 * The area si dominted by Mont Blanc - 4,808m tall

Chamonix has attracted tourists for 250 years. It has a resident population of 10,000 people and this increases up to 100,000 people in summer and 60,000 in winter.

__**Winter attractions:**__
 * Skiing
 * Snowboarding
 * Cross-country skiing with two local courses established
 * Ice climbing
 * free riding and paragliding
 * Snowshoe hiking trails for walkers
 * a variety of hotels, restaurants, heated swimming pools and spas
 * museums, shops and historical buildings

__**Summer attractions:**__
 * Montenvers railway takes visitors to the Mer de Glace
 * 350km of marked hiking trails
 * 40km of mountain bike trails
 * rock climbing, mountaineering, paragliding
 * rafting, canyoning, pony trekking and summer luging
 * Live music, cafes and colourful flowers

__**Impacts of tourism in the French alps: benefits and problems**__

Benefits of tourism:
 * Tourists bring lots of economic benefits - employment for local people in hotels and restaurants, in sports facilities and as guides and instructors
 * Constuction and maintenance jobs for local people
 * The extra income supports local services such as shops
 * Local people benefit from improvements in public transport and health care
 * Chamonix is maintained as an attractive town
 * Pedestrianised streets give people safe access to shops and the town is clean as well

Problems of tourism:
 * The town can become noisy and congested at peak times
 * Access to Chamonix via motorway is good but in Chamonix itself the roads are narrow and become easily jammed
 * Mountain footpaths have become eroded due to the sheer volume of visitors, both walking and using mountain bikes
 * The shops, cafes and restaurants are touist-orientated and expensive. Local people often have to pay more for everyday items.
 * Houses are more expensive and many are second homes for wealthy visitors
 * CONFLICTS - can arise between different groups of people. Mass tourism activites can create unwelcome noise and damage to the environment, which can detract from the enjoyment of those seeking more peaceful activities such as walking or bird watching with local poeple. Farm animals can be harmed by thoughtless actions of tourists, such as leaving gates open or dropping litter


 * __Managing tourism in Chamonix__**
 * Chamonix is keen to promote responsible tourism as a means of balancing the demands of tourism with the need to conserve and protect the environment
 * The Chamonix municipality (local council) provides an environmentally friendly transport service with clean energy buses and free public transport
 * An initiative called Espace Mont-Blanc involves cooperation between France, Italy and Switzerland on issues of international transport, nature conservation, forests and water resources

Another important initiative called Tomorrow's Valley brings together representatives from the local community and tourist groups to plan for sustainable management. Current porjects include:
 * burying service networks such as electricity lines underground
 * renovating and preserving historic buildings and monuments
 * preserving natural wetlands and peat bogs
 * minimising the impact of skiing on the landscape by planting trees and using local building m,aterials that blend in with the natural environment
 * maintaining and way-marking footpaths and cleaning rivers - this provides seasonal employment for local people
 * supporting local traditional employmeny sectors, particularly farming

A video showing Chamonix from the French tourist board media type="youtube" key="NGGrtSDvbVU" height="344" width="425"media type="custom" key="5894633" Key terms:
 * Responsible tourism**: the idea of encouraging a balance between the demands of tourism and the need to protect the environment
 * Sustainable management**: a form of management that ensures that developments are long lastiong and non-harmful to the environment