The tourism economics of marginal and mature mountains. The case of the Regional Park of Corno alle Scale (Apennines), Italy

ABSTRACT

This study outlines a methodological procedure for assessing the economic impact of alternative territorial development projects in small areas by investigating the Regional Park of Corno alle Scale, in Northern Apennines, Italy. This is a Marginal and Mature Mountain (3M) destination suffering from displacement and population ageing since the 1980s and now attempting to regenerate its economy through tourism-based development projects. This process requires a prior understanding of the tourism impact on the local economy and the tourists’ behavioural intentions and attitudes, both issues addressed by this paper. Findings from a visitors’ survey undertaken in 2019-20 are merged with Input-Output tables to build a local Tourism Satellite Account, enabling to estimate the contribution of tourism to the local economy. This way, the economic impact of alternative development projects can be assessed, thus informing policy-makers on investments that can reshape local development but endanger natural and socio-cultural resources.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable tourism
• mountain protected areas
• territorial development
• ski resorts
• Tourism Satellite Accounts
• economic contribution of tourism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by CAI - Club Alpino Italiano – Italian Alpine Club, Emilia-Romagna Section. We kindly thank Vinicio Ruggeri, former President of CAI Emilia Romagna, for continuous advice, and support during the different phases of the research. We acknowledge Gianluca Maini, Ludovica Marsciani and Sara Abate for support during the field work. The usual disclaimers apply.

Notes on contributors

Lucia Danzi

Lucia Danzi is a researcher at the Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago (New Zealand). Her research interests are tourism crisis and disaster management, sustainable tourism and rural tourism. She is currently working on a project related to tourism, emergency management and rural disaster resilience.

Paolo Figini

Paolo Figini holds a PhD in Economics from Trinity College, Dublin (Ireland) and is an associate professor at the Department of Economics, University of Bologna (Italy). He mainly works on the economics of tourism, collaborating on several research projects at CAST – Centre for Advanced Studies in Tourism, at Rimini Campus of the University of Bologna. In his free time, he loves hiking.

The tourism economics of marginal and mature mountains. The case of the Regional Park of Corno alle Scale (Apennines), Italy.