Editor’s Note

On 29 May, the 2022 International Mountain Tourism Day theme event was held online and themed on “Mountain Tourism Promotes Healthy Life and Cultural Exchange”. The event motivated the New Media network, connected IMTA members, destination agencies, enterprises, and experts from all over the world, and carried out “cloud communication, dialogue, and presentation” around three chapters — “Focus · Mountain”, “Health · Life”, and “Civilization · Communication”. Against the complex global landscape and threat from COVID-19, the event helps create a healthier and more positive atmosphere and market for mountain tourism, promote cultural exchange, friendly communication, and mutual integration among countries, to jointly prepare, build, and share a bright future of mountain tourism. At the event, Manuel Brissaud, Director of the French Mountain sports National School; Serge Koenig, Member of IMTA Expert Committee, Relations Internationales of the Mountain sports National School, delivered a speech.

Mountain Tourist Sports, Well-Being and Cultural Sharing

Manuel Brissaud, Director of the French Mountain sports National School：

Dear Friends, Hello everyone,

I’m Manuel Brissaud and I lead the French Nationalschool of mountain sports. I am very happy to participate in the International Mountain Day organized by IMTA on May 29, 2022. I will talk to you about tourism and mountain sports with a positioning on "good living" and cultural sharing. I am in Chamonix, France, at the foot of Mont Blanc, the beautiful exploration field of high mountains behind me.

I would like to begin my conference by presenting a model that has been widely developed in the countryside and rural mountains of Europe. This example is in the county of Savoie in the Alps.

It is a paradise of "medium mountains", rural, called "les Bauges", with a UNESCO-classified Geopark. Local players have developed a very diversified summer-winter tourism there, focused on sports and nature, with a very strong positioning on well-being.

In the valley, a large lake, free to access, offers all the pleasures of water. The surrounding mountains offer a wide variety of sports activities such as hiking, climbing, canyoning, paragliding. A parachuting club allows you to practice air sports. And light aircraft offer sightseeing overflights of the region.

Here tourist sports are choices among other recreational activities. For example, local products and crafts are highlighted: cheeses, wines, liqueurs, pottery, sculptures... Festivals make the link with the traditions of the past. You can stay on the farm, sleep on a campsite, get married in the vineyard, celebrate an event…

Aix-les-Bains, the town near the lake, has capitalized on its thermal resources which have made its reputation since the 19th century. The elites of the time indeed already came there to seek well-being. “Well-being”: a theme that has remained at the heart of the tourist offer and positioning today. And everyone benefits from this very diversified tourism thanks to a network of activities and of the territory.

A modern and harmonious future has been built on this site which takes into account the natural heritage and the past, while keeping the inestimable value of authenticity; this soul of the territory which makes it an attractive and even unique destination.

Local tourism, leisure, mountain sports, pleasant and preserved environment, excellence in services: these are all ingredients that underpin the quality of a prosperous and pleasant life.

This "good life" style also attracts many visitors, French and foreign, to come and spend holidays, discover the local culture, create links with the local inhabitants. This welcoming and open environment encourages them to stay as long as possible. And keeps them coming back with family and friends. Attracting, anchoring, building loyalty: here are three parameters that sustainably establish a tourist economy. This territorial vitality even motivates new people to come and settle, live and develop their economic activities in the region. It is a virtuous spiral that aspires upwards…

Nature is an increasingly strong value in our modern and urbanized societies, hemmed in by increasing constraints of safety, regulations and pollution. Hiking in the wilderness, especially in the mountains, at your own pace, in a silent space, running, cycling, swimming, climbing, skiing, flying has become a form of healing, of rediscovering freedom: in a way a return to the sources which humanity greatly needs for its balance and well-being.

This need has even increased since the appearance of Covid. As these tourist sports in the mountains potentially present risks, tourists are generally guided by qualified professionals.

In France these professionals are trained at the National School of Mountain Sports, that I have the pleasure of directing here in Chamonix. Each year, more than 2,000 students follow the demanding and humanistic training courses at this school. These mountain connoisseurs, guides, instructors, sport teacher, constitute a network of key players in the promotion of tourism and the attractiveness of territories, leading groups, supervising and organizing activities, providing information and advice, and even to rescue.

You know, all these professions are at the crossroads of sports and leisure, tourism, the environment, rurality, cultural exchanges, and even regional planning. They are an essential component for developing a sustainable, eco-responsible, equitable economy, whatever the mountains in the world.

That's what I wanted to tell you. I am now transmitting the relay of this conference to my comrade Serge Koenig who is in charge of the School's International Relations. Good bye and see you soon.

Serge Koenig, Member of IMTA Expert Committee, Relations Internationales of the Mountain sports National School

Thank you Manuel! GE WEI PENG YOU, DA JIA HAO. Everywhere, regardless of the mountains as Manuel Brissaud has just said, and regardless of the country, outdoor sports are attracting more and more people.

It's a trend right in the air at the time of closing sports halls and other confinements linked to the pandemic. Exercising by the water, meditating in lush gardens, climbing to altitude to admire a 360° view... What could be more stimulating to feel good about?

China has for about 2 decades launched its “golden age” of outdoor sports and “active” wellness. During my many stays in China, particularly since the Chinese government directives for the development of "sports tourism", I have seen to what extent communities have mobilized in this societal movement.

Recently, I heard about the planned integration of “extreme sports” into school education in China, like rock climbing. This is an excellent initiative that will undoubtedly popularize these practices and allow as many people as possible to have these experiences.

These activities already respond to changing consumer needs and nature and well-being activities that appeal to the public, especially the younger generations.

Mountain territories benefit from another major asset for tourism. They are often inhabited by mosaics of colorful ethnic groups and open to welcome visitors from elsewhere. And to share their landscapes and their traditions: exchanges that establish the social link necessary for any country. Exchanges that also allow peoples who are different to appreciate and better understand each other.

China is fortunate to be a country-continent, with its 56 ethnic groups, with 2/3 of the national territory covered by mountains, with the greatest global potential for domestic tourism. Local tourism as you know is a pillar of sustainable tourism because it generally has less impact on the environment.

Hiking in particular is a key element for sports holidays in the mountains. It is an asset for tourism, regional planning, discovery of cultures and landscapes, relationships with nature... For well-being and health. This activity, the simplest there is, which consists of putting one foot in front of the other, is The "sport-health" and The "sport-well-being" ideal, and which is by far the most popular leisure activity and mountain sport.

Trails and recreational outdoor hiking will gradually enhance the value of our vibrant natural heritage. And will continue to promote outdoor activities choices that are both touristic and sporty, that are different than the traditional concept of a mass tourism and commodification with sometime heavy consequences. This type of outdoor tour embodies the local tourism with his spread of profits, fairer and more moderate: these are the preconditions for a healthier, more balanced and happier world.

The IMTA also published last year a study on the development of hiking in the world: an educational document that should be read.

The context is therefore more favorable than ever for this Chinese boom in outdoor sports and the outdoors linked to well-being to become one of the strongest in the world since it is based on the largest middle class in the world. With proactive government policies: I am thinking of the reduction of working hours without loss of pay to strengthen the domestic consumption of services, therefore sport and tourism...

The recent Beijing Winter Olympics are also an additional stimulus to develop this culture and this "industry" of mountain sports tourism. An “industry”, whose word I deliberately put in quotation marks, which must more than ever integrate the notions of moderation, respect, fairness, integration, eco-responsibility.

In any case your winter games of February 2022 are a backbone used to popularize active holidays in the mountains, winter and summer alike.

Finally, in these times of searching for a concept of a harmonious and environmentally friendly society, We like to believe that this growing movement for the outdoors in the mountains and outdoor sports could influence, and embody, an authentic sense of the essentials, turned towards nature, towards respect, towards health, towards effort… and to participate in the beautiful idea of“community of shared human destiny”.

Thanks for your attention. With Manuel Brissaud, we wish you again « Happy IMTA International Mountain Day ». Xie xie da jia.