Following a period of strong growth in the 1960s and 1970s, winter sports resorts now find themselves in diverging situations: while some are recording all-time highs in visitor numbers, others face major economic and snow cover challenges against the backdrop of climate change. Some resorts are therefore embarking on transition processes that have as yet been little studied. In parallel, certain public, academic and civil society actors are increasingly interested in the perspective of degrowth, for both the economy as a whole and the tourism sector more specifically. However, the practical implementation of the concept of degrowth at the level of the territoires remains underexplored. Does the concept of degrowth provide us with a way to better define the transition trajectories of mountain resorts?This article examines the trajectory of the Saint-Pierre-de-Chartreuse/Le Planolet ski resort and its territoire through the lens of degrowth. It highlights the importance of mobilising an analytical framework that incorporates multiple dimensions, levels and thematic elements (the ski area, tourism and the territoire). While degrowth ultimately appears to constitute a relevant interpretative framework for exploring the dynamics involved, we also show that degrowth in skiing does not necessarily mean degrowth in tourism and/or the local economy more broadly, and highlight the presence of fragile, non-linear ongoing processes.
George et al. (Wed,) studied this question.