Last chance to see the ice: visitor motivation at Montenvers-Mer-de-Glace, French Alps

Details

Serval ID
serval:BIB_F3553058EF0B
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Title
Last chance to see the ice: visitor motivation at Montenvers-Mer-de-Glace, French Alps
Journal
Tourism Geographies
Author(s)
Salim Emmanuel, Ravanel Ludovic
ISSN
1461-6688
1470-1340
Publication state
Published
Issued date
16/10/2020
Pages
1-23
Language
english
Abstract
Anthropogenic climate change is causing significant changes to the cryosphere. Glaciers and glacier tourism are directly impacted, and glacier tourism operators must adapt to the disappearance of their main resource. Recent studies carried out in this context have demonstrated that Last Chance Tourism (LCT) has emerged as the motivation behind viewing or visiting a natural resource before it disappears. The most frequently visited French glacier is Montenvers-Mer-de-Glace (1920 m a.s.l.), which is becoming a LCT destination. Results from both qualitative and quantitative methods demonstrate that visitors come to Montenvers mainly for its environmental features and for LCT purposes. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) shows that motivations can be classified into LCT and five other factors. Qualitative data identify ‘Fame’ as an unexpected motivational category, and different motivational dimensions of each category are explored. Concerning LCT motivation, four dimensions are revealed: observing, understanding, a sense of urgency, and witnessing environmental changes. Moreover, the more respondents are aware of climate change, the more they consider LCT motivations important. These results lead us to link LCT to cognitive dissonance. Finally, we propose that future research should explore LCT and its relationship with media coverage and pro-environmental behaviour.
Keywords
Glacier tourism climate change last chance tourism motivation cognitive dissonance Montenvers-Mer-de-Glace
Web of science
Create date
15/02/2022 11:51
Last modification date
15/02/2022 12:00
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