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Experts from all over the world will gather together in the heart of the French Alps, in Grenoble, to take part in the 7th World Congress on Snow and Mountain Tourism at the end of April. Here are some of the topics to be discussed at the different sessions and debates:
Crisis and recovery: Correlation and impact on mountain tourism and winter sports
It appears that the recovery of the tourism economy, just like the crisis of the tourism market in 2009, is not moving in parallel with the developments in the winter sports tourism market.
What factors have an impact on this market?
> Speaker: Laurent Vanat, Swiss consultant specializing in the environment of winter sports resorts worldwide.
Off-piste skiing and heli-skiing: How to include and deal with this type of clientele. Making a product unique and positioning it in a competitive market.
While the question of whether to ban off-piste skiing regularly arises in France, certain resorts like Revelstoke in Canada are making it the sole focus of their communication.
> Speaker: John Devitt, CEO of Revelstoke Tourism and of the Revelstoke Chamber of Commerce. (Revelstoke is a young Canadian resort created in 2007).
The example of Korea and its Las Vegas-style ski culture
The city of Pyeongchang in South Korea is vying with Annecy and Munich to host the 2018 Winter Olympics in a contest between diametrically opposed winter-sport cultures and approaches. Skiing arrived in Korea in the 1980s and some of its resorts are veritable amusement parks that are open 24 hours a day. How do Koreans view winter sports?
> Speaker: In Jun Park, Managing Director of Yongpyong Resort, South Korea.
Is China truly the El Dorado of winter sports?
While forecasts were counting on 10 million ski-days in 2010, China’s skiers now number 5 million. What views do the Chinese have of winter sports? Mountain China Resort is developing “four-season” ski resorts.
> Speaker: Mr. Patrick Cao Yue, Vice-President of Mountain China Resorts.
Tourism 2.0: Creating virtual communities of mountain lovers
The Internet has revolutionized communication by virtually bringing together persons linked by the same interests and providing everyone with access to countless contacts. Tourism information systems are poised to turn their clients into content producers, notably through videos. There has therefore been a progression from the B2B model to B2C, and now to C2C models. Another underlying trend: with technology use giving rise to debates or even controversies, are we headed towards growing reliance on “customer profiling”?
> Speaker: Tiziana Turino, Marketing Manager of MonteRosaSki, Champoluc-Ayas, Italy
Mountain destinations exploring new modes of communication to captivate tourists and set themselves apart
This winter, France Montagnes broke away from traditional communication and created a stir with its flash mob in Paris, which has capitals the world over clamouring for it. France Montagnes provides a sneak peek at its new communication strategy to create attraction.
> Speaker: Jean-Marc Silva, Director, France Montagnes, the portal for French mountain vacations, Francin, France.
Registration and complete programme: http://snowmountain.unwto.org/en/node/26790#
