Is Climate Change Driving People to the Ice? A Case Study from Montenvers Mer de Glace, French Alps

Résumé En

Glaciers are an important resource for tourism but they are retreating quickly. This fact can be a threat for glacier touristic sites while it also stimulated a motivation known as “Last Chance Tourism” (LCT). In that context, this working research paper provides the first results from our work at the Montenvers-Mer-de-Glace, the most visited glacier touristic sites in the French Alps. It points out that LCT is well present at this glacier touristic site and that it is closely related to the visitor’s awareness of climate change. We discuss the fact that the trend towards the development of glacier museums is consistent with the high score of the learning-motivation. We suggest to be cautious in the development of new infrastructures due to the importance for visitors of the “naturalness” of the site. Finally, we introduce the follow-up of the research: further investigation of motivational issues, approach to landscape perception and comparisons with other glacier touristic sites in the western Alps.