Abstract/Description

Mountain regions are highly vulnerable to crises, disasters, and risks due to their geographical and environmental characteristics. Natural hazards such as landslides, earthquakes, avalanches, volcanic eruptions, floods, and climate-related events frequently affect mountain tourism destinations and pose challenges to tourism sustainability. As mountain tourism continues to expand globally, research related to crisis management and resilience in mountain destinations has received increasing scholarly attention. However, the existing tourism literature on mountain-related crises, disasters, risks, and hazards remains fragmented, with studies addressing diverse themes and perspectives and limited synthesis of the overall development and thematic structure of the field. Therefore, this study aims to: 1) review the development and major research themes of studies on mountain-related crises, disasters, risks, and hazards; 2) examine how these issues are discussed in tourism research; and 3) identify research gaps and future research directions.

A total of 140 tourism-related articles indexed in Web of Science and Scopus were reviewed. This study employs a systematic literature review approach combining bibliometric and thematic analyses. Bibliometric analysis was conducted to map publication trends, keyword co-occurrence, and thematic evolution, while thematic analysis was used to examine dominant discussions and identify research gaps.

The findings show recent studies increasingly emphasize environmental vulnerability and adaptation in mountain tourism contexts. However, governance, stakeholder coordination, and leadership dimensions remain relatively underexplored. This study contributes to mountain tourism crisis research by providing a comprehensive overview of the field and identifying future research directions related to governance, resilience, and crisis management in mountain tourism destinations.

Abstract/Description

Demographic development in Alpine mountain areas reflects broader socioeconomic transformations shaped by historical, economic, and environmental factors. In the studied area of the Alps, long-term demographic trends since the post–World War II period reveal population dynamics closely linked to employment opportunities during the era of former Yugoslavia and the subsequent decline of major employers following Slovenia’s independence. These structural changes led to significant shifts in population size and composition.

In recent decades, demographic change has been increasingly influenced by immigration, predominantly by foreign nationals, as well as domestic in-migration. New residents are attracted by the area’s favorable geographical setting, proximity to regional employment centers such as Kranj and Ljubljana, high quality of life, and access to diverse leisure opportunities in relatively well-preserved mountain environments.

At the same time, leisure activities in the Alpine landscape have expanded and diversified, resulting in a steady increase in visitor numbers. Mountain tourism and recreational use are becoming key drivers of local development but also pose growing challenges for environmental sustainability and the well-being of the local population. Various research and development projects have collected data on visitor flows and regular recreational use, providing valuable insights into the spatial and temporal patterns of leisure activities.

However, despite improved understanding of visitation dynamics, effective management measures to regulate tourism and recreational pressure in relation to demographic trends and local welfare remain insufficiently developed. The interaction between population change and expanding leisure activities highlights the need for integrated planning approaches that balance economic opportunities, environmental protection, and the quality of life for residents in Alpine mountain areas.

Abstract/Description

Addressing the needs of unskilled skiers, i.e. those with low-to-medium proficiency, is becoming a critical challenge for the ski industry in emerging markets in Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, and due to socio-demographic changes in established markets in Western Europe and North America. Tourism studies have thus far lacked detailed analyses dedicated to this group of skiers. The research aimed to identify the motivational factors underlying ski resort choice among unskilled skiers and to evaluate the extent to which these factors serve as predictors of destination attachment within this segment of skiers. Empirical data were collected through a survey among a sample of 414 skiers. The obtained quantitative data were subjected to statistical procedures, including Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) based on Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression. The findings indicate that ski resort attributes such as ski infrastructure and ski services, complementary services, and the spatial context play a pivotal role in the choice-making process of ski destinations within the examined segment. An analysis of latent factors based on structural equation modelling unveiled that ski resort attributes imply its atmosphere and predict ski destination attachment among non-advanced skiers. The managerial implications of the study underscore the importance of place atmosphere and emotional attachment to ski resorts as factors that enhance the gravitational pull of unskilled skiers, promote their loyalty to the destination, and contribute to the sustainable development of ski resorts.

Abstract/Description

The presentation critically discusses sustainability concepts and frameworks currently employed in tourism, such as the “UNWTO Statistical Framework for Measuring Sustainable Tourism” (Dwyer, 2024). Limitations and blind spots of an ethical nature are identified. Hence, after highlighting that ethics is at the heart of sustainable tourism (e.g. hospitality, care, justice, social innovations, environmental protection), the presentation reflects on contemporary understandings of ethics in tourism (Fennell, 2019; Lüfter, 2025). The proposition is made that fundamental misconceptions of moral and ethics hinder sustainable tourism to unfold its true ethical potential. Following philosopher Brodbeck (2003), the presentation reflects on the very foundations of ethics and morality. By so doing, ethical deficiencies of the Cartesian thinking form and of Popper’s critical empiricism are stressed and shown to dominate contemporary (tourism) science (Fuchs, 2023). However, also promising research trajectories of major ethical frameworks in tourism are demonstrated (Akhoundoghli & Boluk 2025). Finally, the unique sustainability strategy of the South Tyrolean destination of St. Vigil in Enneberg, certified by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), is described. The distinctive feature of this sustainability strategy is that it is based on 16 ethical values identified and progressively refined through engagement in local participatory dialogue platforms. These ethical values ​​are thus embraced and actively practiced by all stakeholder groups of the destination, including guests (Runggaldier, 2024).

• Akhoundoghli, M & Boluk, K (2025). An examination of Degrowth Frameworks: Localizing, Socializing and Regenerative Tourism, Tourism Analysis, 30(1): 23-43.
• Brodbeck, K-H. (2003). Ethik und Moral: Eine kritische Einführung, Verlag BWT, Würzburg.
• Dwyer, L. (2024). Measuring the sustainability of tourism: New wine in an old bottle? Sustainability, 16, 5867.
• Fennell, D.A. (2019). Sustainability Ethics in Tourism: The Imperative Next Imperative, Tourism Recreation Research, 44(1), 117-130.
• Fuchs, M (2023). A Post-Cartesian Economic and Buddhist view on tourism, Annals of Tourism Research, 103, 688, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2023.103688
• Lüfter, R. (2025). Kritik der Nachhaltigkeit: Eine Übung, Eudia, 19(19), 1-16
• Runggaldier, C. (2024). San Vigilio–Sustainable tourism destination expressed as a model of living-values, Free University of Bolzano-Bozen (26.11.2024).