Fascinating Remoteness: The Dilemma of Hiking Tourism Development in Peripheral Mountain AreasResults of a Case Study in Southern Switzerland

摘要

Remote areas devoid of roads and tourist transport infrastructure are increasingly appreciated in urbanized countries because they provide the opportunity to experience tranquillity, solitude, and pristine nature, which are recreational qualities thatcontrast with the stress of urban life. In Switzerland as a whole, larger roadless areas are rare, but they are still common in southern Switzerland as the "inventory of remote areas," which was established in this study, shows. A crucial dilemma for tourism development in remote areas is the paradoxical situation that the installation of tourism facilities and services can reduce the experiential qualities of these areas that attracted the tourists in the first place. This study seeks possible solutions for this dilemma by analyzing the attitudes of 230 visitors to 2 remote areas of southern Switzerland with a questionnaire-based survey. The case study areas represented one "moderately remote" area (Val Cama) and one "extremely remote" area (Val di Lodrino). The respondents were divided into 3 different visitor types along the "purism scale": purists, neutralists, and nonpurists. The percentage of purists was 45% in the "extremely remote" Val di Lodrino versus 24% in the "moderately remote" Val Cama. There was a consensus among all visitor types that the existing traditional cultural landscape and the path network should be preserved and that the construction of new road or cable-car access should be avoided. The development of new huts, paths, andservices was found to be controversial. A major policy recommendation of the study is to gear tourism supply in remote areas to the needs of different visitor types by carefully assessing the impact of measures on remoteness and concentrating new facilities and services in the more accessible parts of a remote area, while preserving more remote conditions in the other zones.