Ski resorts' future

The development of ski resorts has a negative effect that is reflected on nature and people living not far from many prominent resorts. Savoie is a good example for this. Many people have already suffered from the shortages of water this winter.

The Tarentaise valley also has faces many difficulties. It is the number of tourists that come here every winter. Annually here comes more over 300,000 tourists who use nearly 18 millions m3 of water. This also includes snow on the peak in winter time. It is a very large amount of water especially when the water in the rivers is frozen. One more trouble is that the number of visitors also put pressure on sewage treatment and some resorts have inadequate facilities. Besides, very often water is used for making snow that also has a negative effect on environment. The artificial snow is highly required in winter when there is the short of water.

The French Secretary of State for Tourism proposed to find out new ideas for the mountain. The number of visitors to ski resorts reduced by 7.1% during last winter due to the difficult climatic conditions. According to the statistics the climate warmed 1.5C during the last century that has raised the snowline by 250 meters. 100 ski resorts will be closed within every extra degree. I.e. last winter saw the closure of Céüze and Abondance and a financial crisis at Transmontage.