Master's Thesis Submitted to Mid-Sweden University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master in Tourism February 2014
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Master’s Thesis Two years Tourism Studies 30 credits Everything from a Single Source – A Model to Create Environmentally Sustainable Development in Winter Sports Destinations? A comparative case study of the business models of the Swiss destination Laax/Flims/Falera and the Swedish destination Åre Viktoria Müller I MITTUNIVERSITETET Department of Tourism Studies and Geography Faculty of Human Sciences Examinator: Prof. Matthias Fuchs (PhD), [email protected] Daniel Laven (PhD), [email protected] Program: Master in Tourism, 120 higher education credits E-mail address of the author: [email protected] Date: 25.02.2014 II © 2014, Viktoria Müller III Everything from a Single Source – A Model to Create Environmentally Sustainable Development in Winter Sports Destinations? A comparative case study of the business models of the Swiss destination Laax/Flims/Falera and the Swedish destination Åre Department of Tourism Studies and Geography Mid-Sweden University February 2014 Master in Tourism Viktoria Müller ABSTRACT Winter sports destinations base their attractiveness for tourism mainly on the existing environment that enables different kinds of winter sports as leisure activities. Accordingly, environmentally sustainable management is one of the main challenges for future oriented winter sports destinations. This thesis sets out to explore the interdependency between the achievement of an environmentally-sensitive development and the organizational structure of the destination management. Therefore, the antithetic models of corporate vs. community model form the frame for the qualitative research. To obtain partial answers to the question whether the concept 'everything from a single source' improves environmentally sustainable development in winter sports destinations, the Swiss destination Laax/Flims/Falera - under the management of the Weisse Arena Gruppe - and the Swedish destination Åre - operated by SkiStar - are analyzed within two case studies regarding their management structure and their environmentally- sensitive development. The characteristics of several intermediate variables - namely the DMO structure as well as innovation, change and strategic management - are examined under consideration of knowledge requirements for the achievement of environmentally-sensitive development. Based on these findings, we can define what sets destinations with a big leading corporation apart from other destinations while taking into account the roles of different stakeholders. Findings suggest that winter sports destinations with a big leading ski corporation are more likely to achieve an environmentally-sensitive destination development. Additionally, an outstanding role can be assigned to the DMO as organizational and strategic hub for destination management and development in general and for environmentally-sensitive destination development in specific. A new theoretical construct related to this analysis of corporate models in winter sports destinations - 'towards a new management structure' - provides a framework for further research on what kind of management structure in winter sports destinations will lead to a superior performance in terms of environmentally-sensitive development. KEYWORDS: environmentally sustainable development, winter sports destinations, organizational structure, corporate model IV Everything from a Single Source – A Model to Create Environmentally Sustainable Development in Winter Sports Destinations? A comparative case study of the business models of the Swiss destination Laax/Flims/Falera and the Swedish destination Åre by Viktoria Müller A Master's Thesis Submitted to Mid-Sweden University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master in Tourism February 2014 Approved: Supervisors: Prof. Matthias Fuchs, PhD Daniel Laven, PhD Examiner: Dimitri Ioannides, PhD V ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my gratitude to Daniel Laven, PhD, and Professor Matthias Fuchs, PhD - my research supervisors - for their patient guidance, enthusiastic encouragement and useful critiques of this research work. I also wish to thank the International Department of Mid Sweden University for supporting the realization of this Master Thesis project in the frame of my exchange studies at the Tourism Department in Östersund . Finally, I would like to extend my thanks to all interviewees who gave me insight into operational reality in the two winter sports destinations under study and who contributed significantly to the findings within this research study. VI TABLE OF CONTENT List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................... IX List of Figures .............................................................................................................. XI 1 Problem Statement .................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Aim and Research Question .................................................................................. 3 1.2 Structure ............................................................................................................ 4 2 Literature Review ..................................................................................................... 6 2.1 Organizational Structures of Destination Management ............................................. 8 2.1.1 Corporate vs. Community Model in Destination Management ........................ 8 2.1.2 Network Structures of Destinations............................................................ 19 2.2 Environmentally Sustainable Destination Development.......................................... 24 2.2.1 Sustainable Development in Tourism ......................................................... 24 2.2.2 Environmentally Sustainable Development in Tourism Destinations .............. 26 2.2.2.1 The Role of the Consumer ........................................................... 26 2.2.2.2 The Role of Tourism Business Operators ....................................... 30 2.2.2.3 The Role of the Government ........................................................ 37 2.2.2.4 The Role of Major Stakeholders in Sustainable Tourism - An Overview ................................................................................ 39 2.3 Indicators for Environmentally Sustainable Destination Management ...................... 40 2.4 Knowledge Needs to Achieve Sustainable Development ........................................ 45 2.4.1 The Role of Knowledge in Destination Management ................................... 46 2.4.2 Knowledge Applications in Tourism .......................................................... 50 2.4.3 The Destination Management Information System (DMIS) .......................... 55 2.5 The Role of the Destination Management Organization .......................................... 58 2.6 Literature Review Summary ............................................................................... 62 3 Study Area ............................................................................................................. 66 3.1 Laax / Flims / Falera (CH) .................................................................................. 66 3.1.1 The New DMO Structure ......................................................................... 67 VII 3.1.2 Weisse Arena Gruppe .............................................................................. 68 3.1.2.1 GREENSTYLE - The Environmental Label of the Weisse Arena Gruppe ............................................................................. 70 3.1.2.2 Measures Planned and Realized by the Weisse Arena Gruppe to Improve Ecological Sustainability ............................................ 71 3.2 Åre (SE) ........................................................................................................... 75 3.2.1 Åre Vision 2020 ...................................................................................... 77 3.2.2 SkiStar ................................................................................................. 80 3.2.2.1 Environmental Consciousness and Goals of SkiStar ........................ 81 3.2.2.2 Measures Planned and Realized by SkiStar to Improve Ecological Sustainability ......................................................... 82 3.3 Final Explanatory Statement of the Case Study Selection ....................................... 84 4 Methods and Data Collection Procedure .................................................................. 85 4.1 Working Theses ................................................................................................ 85 4.2 Research Strategy .............................................................................................. 87 4.3 Data Collection ................................................................................................. 89 5 Analysis .................................................................................................................. 92 5.1 Winter Sports Destinations: A Stage Play with Different Actors .............................. 92 5.1.1 The Ski Corporation: A Balancing Act between Profit and Good Will ........... 93 5.1.2 The DMO: Think Tank and Meeting Platform ............................................. 97 5.1.3 SMEs: Zest for Action versus Economic Constraints ................................. 104 5.1.4 The Government: Backbone of Environmentally-Sensitive Development .......................................................................................