The conference "The Future of Winter Tourism"

In the Nordic countries, the main travel motivation of winter tourists is snow-based winter sport activities in “Winter Wonderland". More recently, however, snow based winter tourism is under pressure from many directions. Downhill skiing has entered a phase of stagnation in many countries. The typical downhill skiing tourist has become older. Generally, there is a change in leisure preferences towards city tourism or other types of snow-based activities such as snow-shoeing, cross-country skiing and ski mountaineering and backcountry skiing. Global warming also threatens traditional winter resorts, especially in low elevation and low latitude areas. Because of the latter, but despite the former, there are still heavy investments in snow-making facilities since managers live in the hope that if there is snow there are customers. What does research say about this? Despite the growing literature, still little is known about climate change impacts, vulnerability and the role and effects of adaptation and mitigation measures.

The first workshop on the Future of winter tourism aims to provide a platform for experienced scholars in tourism and related fields (geography, business, environmental economics, regional economics). The main themes of the workshop concern consumption behaviour, tourism demand, recreation demand, rural tourism, sustainability and travellers.