Young people and mountain: evidence from a survey in the Northern Italy

Recent tourism trends shows that holidays in mountain destinations are decreasing. This fact is partly linked with the current economic conditions because demand for mountain holidays is mainly domestic and crisis have affected especially this market (Macchiavelli, 2014). However, it can be largely viewed as a result of the long-term process concerning the decreasing appeal of mountain areas and the strong competition with other types of tourism. Especially younger generations have gradually lost their interest in mountain and, consequently, their behaviour during holidays has changed over time. This fact has been highlighted for the first time more than twenty years ago (Bourdeau, 1991); in the following years changes in behaviour continued in new directions but they have become more difficult to notice and classify, as the survey on French population carried out by COFREMCA has shown (Atout France, 2011). For these reasons the knowledge of young people behaviour in mountain areas appears to be relevant to understand tourism trends and, consequently, to address future tourism policies of alpine destinations.