Mountain tourism: Best Practices Ioanna Papaioannou, Agronomist, Msc WORKSHOP 11/09/2012 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

Appreciate and discover untouched nature, invest into their health, peace, look for possibility for recreation, respect cultural heritage and invest into knowledge and new discoveries Motivation for trips to the mountains: Fun park, half pipe, drive by motor sledges, tubing etc. Envisaged services to be offered:

Advantageous if most of the year Linkage between communities and parks

1. Promote the professional training of local mountain guides and the creation of local travel agencies 2. Build huts and small camps along well-frequented paths; where possible by the restoration of existing structures 3. Promote the restoration of old civil and rural structures so that they can be used as tourist destinations

4. Provide way-marked paths in order to enable exploration of the area without guides 5. Create promotional material to describe the area’s trails and features of outstanding natural beauty 6. Ensure regulations for hunting are linked to raising awareness for the protection of the natural environment

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.