Sustainable and health tourism, key issues for the Four Motors
The Mountain Planet fair took place in Grenoble from 26th to 28th April, gathering many mountain professionals (more than 900 brands) and international delegations.
As the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region is both co-pilot of the EU-Strategy for the Alpine Region (EUSALP) Action Group 2 and president of the Four Motors for Europe in 2022, it invited the partner Regions of the Four Motors to take part in the meeting of the Tourism sub-group, to discuss the theme "Health tourism for all in the Alps?”.
In his introduction, Fabrice Pannekoucke, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes’ delegate for Mountains Valleys and president of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Tourism agency, emphasized the many benefits of the mountain environment on quality of life, well-being and health.
Several speeches were devoted to the presentation of European research works and projects related to these topics, including the study on the benefits of the mountain on health conducted by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Tourism agency, and the Transtat project, submitted under the Interreg Alpine Space program, which aims to create a network of mountain resorts in transition.
Leonardo La Rocca, representative of Lombardy, manager for knowledge and information system on mountain sport and sport infrastructures, presented the tourism challenges of the upcoming Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games, and the strategy aiming at organizing the first fully sustainable Winter Olympics, from an environmental, social and economic point of view.
Dèlia Montesinos Lopez, Brand manager Pyrenees and rural tourism at the Catalan Tourist Board, presented "A point of view outside the Alpine region, the example of Catalonia", explaining the specific challenges in the Pyrenees in terms of wellness tourism and the measures implemented by the Catalan Region to promote mountain tourism.
These exchanges allowed the Four Motors Regions to identify common challenges and to share their experiences, as well as many innovative solutions.