Tignes - from a “white” to a
“green” summer
A study of Tignes’ development in alpine summer tourism
Tignes – från en ”vit” till en ”grön” sommar. En studie av Tignes utveckling inom alpin sommarturism
Linda Stridh
Faculty of art and social sciences Tourism studies 15 ECTS Supervisor: Marcus Ednarsson Spring 2014
Abstract
This study focuses on Tignes’ development of their summer season. Tignes is a tourist resort in the Northern French Alps. Tignes has long been known for their glacier and tourism, which, as an industry, has been the major focus since the original village of Tignes was put underwater by the development of a large dam. Tignes is also known for its connection with Val d’Isère, together creating the Espace Killy ski area.
The summer in Tignes used to be known for summer skiing on the Grande Motte glacier, 3656 meters above sea level. However, like many other winter resorts, Tignes has seen the effects of global warming and climate change and these effects were especially evident in the summer. A decision was thus taken to diversify attractions and try to create a different, yet more classic, summer season.
Through interviews with resort management and access to visitor statistics as well as other qualitative data it has been made clear that Tignes has developed the summer season according to a well-planned business strategy and has step by step implemented new infrastructures, new attractions and other marketing strategies in an effort to develop and increase summer tourism.
So far these strategies have resulted in a great increase in visitors and in their diversification. More detailed data is needed for further studies and analysis of visitor demographics. However it is clear that the summer season still is very much reliant on the winter season for its existence. There still seems to be a larger potential for the summer season and Tignes Développement, the resort management, appears to now be working proactively in favor of this.
Clear links can be done to theoretical models and concepts as well as previous studies and this has provided another dimension and a clear view of where Tignes stands in its development as a successful alpine summer resort.
Keywords: alpine summer tourism, tourism development, climate change, management, visitors.
Foreword
I would especially like to thank Sébastien Mérignargues, director of Tignes Développement, (director of the resort) for his time and effort in helping me gather material for this study and for the interview, as well as Coralie Deschamps. Without the collaboration of Tignes Développement this study would not have been possible.
I would also like to thank Marcus Ednarsson, my supervisor at Karlstad University for answering my questions and helping me in the writing process.
Linda Stridh, Tignes 2014
Contents
1. Introduction 6 1.1Background and research area 6 1.2 Purpose 7 1.3 Research questions 7 1.4 Limitations 7 1.5 Other definitions 7 1.6 Outline 7
2. Methodology 9 2.1 Scientific approach 9 2.2 Choice of Method 9 2.3 Qualitative interviews 10 2.4 Statistical Analysis 11 2.5 Validity and Reliability 12 2.6 Limitations 12 2.7 Sample selection and evaluation of sources 13
3. Theoretical background 14 3.1 Seasonality 14 3.2.1 Attractions and attractiveness 14 3.2.2 Attractions as a commercial product 15 3.3 Tourist types 16 3.4 Destination development lifecycle 16 3.5 Climate change 18 3.6 Previous studies 19
4. Results 20 4.1 Results from interview and other qualitative results from document analysis 20 4.2 Statistical results 21 4.2.1 General statistics overview 22 4.2.2 Tignes’ development compared to other resorts 24 4.2.3 Bike park statistics 25 4.2.4 Carte Sportignes statistics 27 4.2.5 Winter vs. summer statistics 28
5. Analysis 30
6. Conclusions 34
7. Reflections 35
8. Bibliography 36
9. Appendix 39 9.1 Questionnaire for interview in original language, translated version in italics. 39
List of Tables
Table 1. Developments within the summer season 22 Table 2. Tignes visitor statistics 23 Table 3. Tignes vs. other resorts 24 Table 4. Time series analysis: Tignes vs. other resorts 24 Table 5. Index calculation Bike park vs. visitors 25 Table 6. Time series analysis: Bike park vs. general number of visitors 25 Table 7. Index calculation: Carte Sportignes use vs. distribution 27 Table 8. Times series analysis: Carte Sportignes use vs. distribution 27 Table 9. Index calculation: winter vs. summer frequentation 28 Table 10. Times series analysis: winter vs. summer development 28 Table 11. Summer vs. winter frequentation percentage 29
1. Introduction
1.1 Background and research area Tignes is located in the French Alps and is widely recognized as a skiing destination and winter resort. The village of Tignes was previously located in what is now known as the Dam of Chevril. Due to a need for power supply, the dam was built and finished in 1952, at which point Tignes was relocated to further up the mountain.1 It was not until after this that one started developing tourism activities. Tignes now consists of 5 smaller villages, Tignes les Brevières, Tignes Les Boisses, Tignes Le Lavachet, Tignes Le Lac and Tignes Val Claret, ranging in altitude from ~1550m to 2100m. In terms of tourism, Tignes is often referred to as part of the Espace Killy ski area, which it forms together with its neighbor resort Val d’Isère. Part of what is considered included in the Tignes ski area is also a part of the Vanoise National Park2 which comes with its own restrictions in terms of use and development.
Tignes as a tourist destination is changing due to various reasons and particularly so in the summer. Lately within tourism there have been debates about climate change and how winter seasons are declining, and Tignes cannot exclude itself from this discussion. Within many winter resorts, one can observe “responsive” actions against effects of global warming and actions taken to reduce its effect on income from tourism. Irrespectively of what one believes to be the reason for declining winters, the summer season is starting to become more and more important as a way of reducing the pressure on the winter season and reducing seasonality issues. This also represents a sort of destination development that is very interesting and the focus on this phenomenon has fairly recently become part of scientific studies. However, these studies have focused on winter destinations developing a “green” summer attraction from previously not having a summer season at all.3 However, this particular study of Tignes will focus on the process of going from a “white” summer to a “green” summer, as Tignes used to be skiable all year round with the Grande Motte Glacier as the main attraction, something which is no longer the case. To an outsider, this is what seems to be the reason that has prompted a development in other summer attractions, but it is something that needs to be investigated further to substantiate the claim. Superficially, one can observe the creation of new attractions as well as the use of other incentives to attract new types of visitors. A search for other similar resorts with glaciers gave mainly results about how to preserve glacier tourism, sometimes with fairly extreme measures4, but do mention diversifying as an option5. The focus of these studies was thus different than that which I wish to pursue. Other studies, as mentioned above, focus on “regular” alpine resorts. The fact that Tignes is not developing a new summer destination but merely changing its attractions is what makes this study different from previous studies, meaning also that my study can then serve to give more light to destinations that do include glaciers as an attraction and maybe separate these from other mountainous resorts. Changing attractions can also mean a change in image and branding which may be relevant to destination attractiveness. When it comes to branding within tourism destinations, it is still however
1 http://www.tignes.net/en/practical-info/a-little-history-1213.html, accessed on 2014-06-04 2 http://www.parcnational-vanoise.fr/fr/documentation-en-ligne/doc_download/376-carte-presentation-generale- du-parc-national-de-la-vanoise.html, accessed on 2014-05-08 3 Flagestad, Arvid., Svensk, Göran., Nordin, Sara. & Lexhagen, Maria. (2004) Vintersportorten – året runt, Harkman, Linda. (2007) Det gröna sälen – En studie om sommarturism i Sverige. 4 Purdie, Heather. (2013) Glacier Retreat and Tourism: Insights from New Zealand. Mountain Research and Development. 33(4): 463-472. p.470 5 Furunes, Trude & Mykletun, Reidar J. (2012) Frozen Adventure at Risk? A 7 year Follow-up Study of Norwegian Glacier Tourism. p.345 6 largely dependent on the attractions in the resort. The same is true for visitors, who come there mainly for the attraction. It is then up to the resort to build a coherent image with the visitors. Thus creating a harmonized image of what they offer and what the tourists want to identify with. Tignes thus faces this challenge as well, going from unique summer skiing into a more traditional summer role including downhill biking, hiking etc. All of the above thus creates an interesting area of study. The goal will thus be to investigate the resort of Tignes, as a case study, in relation to this recent summer season development.
1.2 Purpose My purpose with the study is to investigate how Tignes has changed in terms of developing a multi-attraction summer season from being an all year round winter resort.
1.3 Research questions To answer the purpose above I have decided on three study questions that are worth pursuing in order to obtain relevant results: - Which actions have been taken to develop Tignes as a summer resort and why? - What are the consequences? - How has the development changed the number and types of visitors?
1.4 Limitations The study is limited to the sole resort of Tignes and focuses on the summer season development as this is judged to be the more substantial change in destination development. Actions taken during the winter season will therefore not be discussed if they do not impact the summer season or are referred to in the results found. A limitation like this is necessary as the scope would otherwise be too large to handle within the restrictions of the study.
1.5 Other definitions Tignes is used both to describe the resort and sometimes together with the management. However, when the resort management and their organization in particular are mentioned, they will be referred to as Tignes Développement or TD in short. Guests, clients, tourists and visitors refer to people staying in resort for more than a day, otherwise they will be referred to as day trippers or excursionists.
1.6 Outline The essay starts with an abstract giving a short summary of the study as a whole. Thereafter the study starts with some background information as well as a presentation of the purpose and the corresponding research questions corresponding as well as the limitations of the study and other relevant definitions. This part presents why Tignes has been chosen and why the resort is a relevant area of study. In the methodological chapter, the choice of both qualitative and quantitative methods is described as well as the respective implications for the study at hand. Discussions on validity and reliability as well as sections on limitations and sample selections are included in this chapter.
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Following this, the theoretical background and related scientific concepts are presented. These are seasonality, attraction and attractiveness, attractions as a commercial product, tourist types, destination development lifecycle, climate change and a brief summary of previous studies. This chapter serves to give a greater depth and explain in detail the touristic concepts related to the study. The empirical results are presented afterwards. Firstly the results from the qualitative interviews with Sébastien Mérignargues and Coralie Deschamps. Secondly the results from the statistical analysis of the documents Réunion Économique Publique and Bilan été 2013 including time series analysis tables and graphs. Some other qualitative data from these documents have also been included. An analysis of the results as well as conclusions and reflections conclude the essay and give a complete picture of the research having been carried out through the study and the findings.
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2. Methodology
2.1 Scientific approach I have used two separate approaches in my study as I have used two different methods for which they are respectively relevant. For my qualitative interviews I had a hermeneutic approach where there was an element of participatory observation and the content was analyzed. Hermeneutics as a concept in itself means to interpret6 and means that the researcher’s analysis and interpretation is of value and helps complete the subjective reality described in for example an interview. It is thus also the subject’s interpretation of reality that is of worth to study and not an “objective fact”. A certain element of previous local knowledge should also be noted as having been used in the study.
For the quantitative method; statistical analys, a positivistic approach was used as it is focused on facts and numbers and the data was per se not interpreted. According to Hume as cited by author’s DePoy and Gitlin, the underlying concept is that there is a discrepancy between facts and how we interpret these.7 Focus according to a positivistic approach should thus be on the facts. Veal presents this approach as studying the subject from “outside” through facts and observation and using set models to explain results.8 This will also help achieve more objectivity within the research and analysis.9
2.2 Choice of method My intended purpose with the study was to investigate how Tignes, a French alpine resort, has transformed into a multi-attraction year round resort from a single attraction (skiing) resort, through focusing on the summer season development, and furthermore the consequences thereof. Evaluating consequences or effects also mean judging the successfulness of the development. The appropriate method for doing so will invariably depend on what the purpose and goal of the study is and the research questions used, as is described below. Based on the purpose this meant investigating; how has Tignes’ summer season changed in relation to a change in attractions? Tignes is different to other traditional skiing destinations in the sense that they have been able to use the natural attraction of a glacier to attract visitors in the summer and a previous slogan has been “Ski for 365 days a year”10 However, due to various reasons the glacier is receding11 and the use has started becoming more restricted in the summer period and Tignes is now trying to diversify its attractions. The purpose in itself is fairly complex, what does it mean to be successful? To understand the situation and how well Tignes is doing in the summer, using new attractions, a quantitative result will provide a fairly clear image. Results of this kind can be obtained through for example statistics on visitor/tourist nights spent in the area. This is a relatively easy and common method of measuring success of a tourist destination. However this would only provide the data of what has happened and does not give insight into the management of the resort development, in terms of how and why these numbers are changing. And the quantitative data would therefore only provide a basic image of what is happening in resort.
6 http://www.ne.se/hermeneutik, accessed on 2014-06-06 7 DePoy, Elizabeth & Gitlin, Laura N. (1999) Forskning – en introduktion. p.30 8 Veal, Anthony James. (2006) Leisure and Tourism: a practical guide. p.37 9 DePoy & Gitlin. p.31 10 http://www.skivintage.com/PBSCProduct.asp?ltmID=13122916, accessed on 2014-03-08 11 https://glacierchange.wordpress.com/tag/grande-motte-glacier-retreat-melt/, accessed on 2014-06-04, http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4QDCN_grande-motte-tignes, accessed on 2014-06-04
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Having someone “explain” in a deeper sense, the actions behind the numbers could allow for a deeper understanding. Eggeby et al. states that statistics on their own can never prove causal correlation, but that it still carries a lot of weight within research.12 This means that on their own, quantitative results may not be sufficient and one needs to be careful in what conclusions are drawn from the numbers. Patel et al. also means that the formulation of the study purpose indicates what type of research method is appropriate; in this case the formulation is open and allows for a qualitative and/or quantitative method.13 As the purpose is to gain the most complete picture, a one-method approach cannot be deemed sufficient in this case. If the purpose of the study had been simpler in terms of evaluating how much summer tourism has increased, a simpler quantitative study might have been sufficient. However, as the research question becomes more complex, so does the research method. I have thus chosen to use a multiple method approach, collecting both qualitative and quantitative data to the study, and then perform the appropriate analysis as to be able to fully comprehend the situation that is being researched.
2.3 Qualitative interviews Qualitative interviews are fairly complex and time consuming but also very flexible14. To minimize error, due to memory and in understanding, during the analysis process, the interview was recorded15 using a phone application called Smart Voice recorder16, allowing easy transfer to digital format. The audio file was easily comprehendible and sound was deemed to be very good. Even though the use of a recording device may somehow have disrupted the subject17 this allowed a more correct representation afterwards, which was vital for the analysis phase. The interview subject agreed that that the interview would be recorded and that it was preferable for accuracy afterwards. Disruption is therefore deemed to have been minimal. The transcription phase was very long as to gain a correct and accurate text file of what was said, which was then used for analysis. The analysis used to extract important information was that of sentence concentration as described by Kvale.18 This allows long texts to be more concentrated and key concepts are identified and extracted and put into a more usable form. This method of analysis was deemed most appropriate for the subject of the interview and the results. Key concepts and sentences that were extracted are presented in the results below. To gain the most detailed information through this interview method, it was conducted in the primary language of the subject, namely French. Using the subject’s maternal language avoided any confusion about what was asked, whereas an interview in a second language firstly might have interfered with the amount of information that could be conveyed by the subject and secondly added unnecessary stress to the interview situation, as explained by Patel and Davidson.19 No language issue was noticed during the interviewing process, the transcription or the analysis phase. A semi-structured interview allowed some freedom within the interview, although the results may be more varied as a consequence20. The questions were determined in advance and were sent to the interviewee for preparation to
12 Eggeby, Eva & Söderberg, Johan. (1999) Kvantitativa metoder – för samhällsvetare och humanister. p.135 13 Patel, Runa & Davidson, Bo. (2003) Forskningsmetodikens grunder. Att planera, genomföra och rapportera en undersökning. pp.49-50 14 Bell, Judith. (2005) Introduktion till forskningsmetodik. 4:e uppl. p.158 15 Kvale, Steinar. (1997) Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun. pp. 148-149 16 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.andrwq.recorder&hl=sv, downloaded on 2014-03-24 17 Patel & Davidson. p.83 18 Kvale. p.174 19 Patel & Davidson. p.78 20 Kvale. pp.121-122
10 allow a more qualitative discussion, than had the interviewee not been briefed. This meant that the conversation was more fluid and even though the questions were not done in the exact order as they had been written, the subject was entirely covered and dealt with. After the scheduled interview with Sébastien Mérignargues he also introduced me to their intern Coralie Deschamps, who I afterwards had a short informal interview with as she is there to help them investigate the weak points and what the next step in developing the summer season is. This was unfortunately not recorded and there are just some notes from the interview, these will be taken into account in the results as well. This second interview, as it was not planned, was slightly less structured, but nonetheless gained insight into the matter at hand. In a sense she had a very similar viewpoint to me as the researcher as she is working with the same intent; To understand the summer development up till now, but also to determine how to develop it further. This information was thus very useful, both in understanding what tools Tignes’ are using to assess their situation as well as in gaining another perspective on the research I was undertaking.
2.4 Statistical analysis A statistical analysis is a quantitative process where one uses statistical models to analyze numerical results. In this study, available material on visitor statistics and progress reports, provided by TD, was used and an analysis have been performed to see how visitors/guests have changed during the development of the summer season in Tignes. These changes mainly include numbers of visits. TD provided two separate documents, “Réunion Economique Publique” from July 2013 and a document, known as “Bilan été” describing the frequentation and key numbers from the summer seasons and its development from 2008 which is when the last “business plan station” was introduced. The facts and numbers from these documents have been identified and extracted for the comparison with the qualitative results obtained. It is important to note that this data is secondary, but there is no way of collecting primary data on past events and therefore these must be deemed to be acceptable and appropriate for the situation as the study’s purpose is to investigate developments up till this point in time. The found quantitative data will be used in a time series analysis as this is deemed most appropriate for attaining visitor patterns over time periods.21 The statistical analysis thus serves to help answer the research questions; what are the consequences (of the actions taken to develop Tignes) and “how has this affected the number and types of visitors. The statistical results are especially relevant for the second question; “number of visitors” is a question that is of a numerical value and the correct way to answer it is quantitatively. A statistical analysis of visitors will help visualize the change in resort and further explain the consequences of development. It can help determine the developmental trends and compare different aspects in resort as well as identify key factors. Moreover it can either solidify and support or contradict results from the interview. The correct analysis method must however be used and the data must be presented in a relevant matter for this to be of use to the study. Below in results I have strived to do just that. Graphs or tables will then also help identify trends in resort development. The qualitative results found within these same documents will be presented separately and in relation to the other qualitative results from the interview. Compounding all qualitative results is judged to be advantageous over using a separating approach which would make results more fragmental as they would be split into more categories.
21 Eggeby & Söderberg. p.170
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2.5 Validity and Reliability Validity and reliability is described by Bell as the 6th phase, known as verification, in an interview study.22 It is by Bell described as two parts of the trinity which also includes generalization.23 Reliability, simplified, is about whether the results will be consistent if the study was performed in the same setting but during two different times. Bell argues that reliability comes into question at two particular stages, during the interview, in terms of leading questions, and during the transcription phase.24 The questions for the interview phase in this study were formed to be very open and allow the subject to give their own answer. Validity is about whether the results are relevant to what is being investigated and is according to Bell something that is present as a sort of checklist during the entire research process.25 Reliability and validity are important issues that need to be dealt with especially in the transcription phase of the interview.26 The issue will be about performing a correct transcription of the interview and using a language that will best convey the conversation that took place, Bell implies that including a transcription is vital for transparency.27 The transcription phase was time consuming but this was deemed necessary for a correct transcription and was also done close to the time of the interview so that memory would not affect the result. In terms of the statistical analysis it is important to take into account how the quantitative data was obtained and that this research process was outside of my, the researcher’s, control. The data was obtained directly from the responsible party but are what they have presented publicly as results and can therefore be said to have fairly high reliability and validity as they could easily be verified by the responsible statistical company.
2.6 Limitations Limitations with interviews involve the lack of transmission of physical cues such as body language;28 however, given the purpose of the study, I did not judge it to be important to record the interview audiovisually. In the interview I recall using hand gestures to describe a model but this was noted down for future reference and subsequently included in the transcription phase as to avoid any confusion. It is furthermore argued that qualitative interviews cannot be objective29 and that objectivity is something to strive for within research. However objectiveness is a very complex subject and it can also mean to be free from bias. Kvale argues that an interview can be somewhat objective but that in terms of interviews it is primarily an intersubjective interaction.30 In terms of bias it is also important to try to avoid leading questions as to avoid getting skewed results31, something which was considered in the creation of the interview questions. Other issues with qualitative methods include generalization, which will not be possible as my study is a case study, studying solely the situation in Tignes. Furthermore any comparison with other resorts will only include previous research. Generalization also requires a certain size of data and representability.32 However Kvale questions the need for
22 Bell. p.85 23 Bell. p.207 24 Bell. p.213 25 Bell. p.214 26 Patel & Davidson. pp.150-151 27 Bell. p.166 28 Kvale. p.147 29 Kvale. p.64 30 Kvale. p.66 31 Kvale. p.145 32 Kvale. pp.97-98
12 generalizability with the question “Why is so much weight put on generalizability”33, implying there is also value in studying a unique situation and still finding valid information. This means that there is some value in making a case study such as this even if the conclusions drawn can only be used for the specific situation.
Quantitative methods are limited in the respect that they are “only” numerical, and therefore lack rich data. Analysis was therefore a simplified process of identifying and organizing numbers which on their own did not give much insight to the research question at hand. Limitations of the quantitative data are that they may also not be 100 percent complete. Surveys using visitor statistics rarely are and it can be assumed that the same is the case for Tignes. However, considering that the fall out numbers should be fairly consistent, we can still use the numbers to identify trends and the general direction of the development. Another limitation to this study is that the quantitative data is secondary. As primary data cannot be collected one needs to just be aware of the limitations of the data.
2.7 Sample selection and evaluation of sources The first interview was undertaken with the director of Tignes Développement, Sébastien Mérignargues. Tignes Développement or TD, is the body that manages the resort of Tignes. This was the most appropriate subject for the interview as he has access to all the information that was sought after and can therefore provide the most comprehensive results. A second shorter, less structured interview was undertaken with Coralie Deschamps, also working for Tignes Développement, and more specifically, with the role of investigating the summer season and its potential. Choosing to focus on Tignes Développement and not on other stakeholders within the resort was done consciously to get the most reliable and appropriate results. They are the one body which can be said to have had a consistent role in the development and are therefore the most appropriate choice of source for the interview. A limitation is that the results will only show the perspective of one stakeholder.
In terms of the statistical analysis, the data used was also provided by TD. The relevant numbers were extracted from the documents and put into a coherent and informative form that allows for easy interpretation. The data is secondary but there is no means of collecting primary data on past events and therefore these must be admissible. This is the case when almost any visitor statistics is used as there are national and regional bodies that are usually responsible for the collection of such. The data used in this study was originally collected by Comète34, a large statistics company within the alpine sector, and the information relevant to Tignes has then been published by Tignes in the documents. The numbers can therefore be seen as very reliable and valid. A personal gathering over several years would be too time consuming and not justifiable considering relevant and valid data already exists.
For the theoretical background many printed sources and published articles have been used and can be considered to have a high reliability which further strengthens the study. Moreover, the concepts used are very well established within tourism research.
33 Kvale. p.261 34 Tignes Développement. (2013) Réunion Économique Publique. p.4
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3. Theoretical background
3.1. Seasonality Seasonality is a concept that is very closely linked with tourism and especially when it comes to traditional winter resorts. Weaver and Lawton define seasonality as the variations in demand over the period over a year, and three different situations can be found: high season, low season and shoulder periods.35 The issue of seasonality is big both in the tourism and sport sector and thus when it comes to sport tourism, the implications can be big. Higham presents McEnnif’s statement that “tourism industry issues arising from seasonality ‘are chiefly concerned with off-peak underutilization of capacity’”36 Furthermore Higham and Hinch present the idea that tourism seasonality has two underlying major groups of causes; natural and institutional, meaning factors such as weather and climate or cultural and societal factors.37 This is still very much true as peak weeks can be identified within the season and these coincide when major regions have school holidays, a factor which is institutional.38 A period that restricts especially families in terms of availability to travel. Seasonality can thus be said to be an interesting factor that affects tourists, business owners, workers, inhabitants and natural resources. By developing the summer season Tignes is actively trying to change when high and low season as well as shoulder periods occur. Furthermore it develops a season where the resort can increase its income and revenue. As mentioned above, seasonality is linked to climate, and therefore also climate change in some respects. Hill et al. mentions that boosting the percentage share of summer tourism is seen as an adaptive measure needed by winter tourism resorts to counteract the effects of climate change.39 This is supported by Morrison and Pickering who state that development of year-round tourism is an adaptive measure caused by climate change.40 Moen and Fredman mean that this strategy is the most promising out of all strategies to counter climate change and that it is beneficial in terms of reducing seasonality.41 Boosting the summer season also means working with and developing the resort’s attractions.
3.2.1 Attractions and attractiveness Attractions are what make a destination worthy of a visit. Weaver and Lawton also categorize it as a “pull factor” and mean that having a diversity of attractions is something to strive for.42 Sometimes however, attractions become synonymous with destination.43 It is also said that there is usually a “focal point” or main attraction for visitors.44 For Tignes, the main attraction used to be the Grande Motte glacier but is now the Bike Park or the Sportignes cluster of activities. These have been identified through main marketing strategies.45 Both of these have implications for Tignes as a resort, especially when one considers how Tignes previously has presented itself as outside and unaffected by climatic seasonality by offering skiing, a
35 Weaver, David. & Lawton, Laura. (2006) Tourism Management. Third Edition. p.209 36 Higham, James. & Hinch, Tom. (2001) Tourism, sport and seasons: the challenges and potential of overcoming seasonality in the sport and tourism sectors. p.176 37 Higham & Hinch. p.176 38 Higham & Hinch. p.176 39 Hill, Margot., Wallner, Astrid. & Furtado, Jose. (2010) Reducing vulnerability to climate change in the Swiss Alps: a study of adaptive planning. p.76 40 Morrison, Clare. & Pickering, Catherine M. (2013) Perceptions of climate change impacts, adaptations and limits to adaptation in the Australian Alps: the ski-tourism industry and key stakeholders. p.174 41 Moen, Jon. & Fredman, Peter. (2007) Effects of climate change on alpine skiing in Sweden. p.431 42 Weaver & Lawton. p.129 43 Holloway, Christopher J. (2009) The business of Tourism. Eighth Edition. p.231 44 Holloway. p.234 45 http://www.tignes.net/en/summer-sports/free-and-a-la-carte-activities-252.html, accessed on 2014-05-21
14 traditional winter activity, year round. However, currently it is actually changing and taking a more “traditional/classic” approach by offering what is considered summer activities in the appropriate season. In relations to this it would be interesting for further studies to see how institutionalized seasonality factors are affecting tourism in Tignes. Attractions make up the one sector that the destination has full control over in terms of getting visitors and successfully developing a resort.46 The offer of attractions and their management is thus very relevant in terms of resort development. Furthermore these attractions can be natural or artificial, meaning that they can be pre-existing or created with the specific intention of attracting visitors. Pre-existing attractions however need to be managed correctly to be considered a tourist attraction.47 Weaver and Lawton stress that just listing attractions for a destination is not enough but it is imperative to assess attraction attributes for proper management. These attributes include things such as ownership, market, status and carrying capacity.48 The management of the attractions can thus be said to be as important as the actual product/attraction itself. Das et al. describe attractions as the major factors influencing attractiveness of a destination.49 Other factors described are customer satisfaction as a measure of attractiveness together with a willingness to recommend it. Kim and Perdue discuss attractiveness as dependent on destination image.50 The same authors continue to explain that destination image becomes the main factor for attractiveness because the tourism product itself is intangible and that people usually lack experience and have limited knowledge of the destination.51 Many factors can thus be said to affect attractiveness and it remains a complex concept.
3.2.2 Attractions as a commercial product If we choose to see attractions as commercial products one can argue that price is a critical element.52 This is from the standpoint of the concept of the marketing mix, including the elements; product, price, promotion and place.53 A product is defined as “Anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or a need. It includes physical objects, services, persons, places, organizations and ideas.”54 The product is the base but needs the other elements to become attractive and in terms of tourist attractions these are determined by management. A link to the gratuity of attractions in Tignes can easily be drawn and is an important point of analysis. One can choose to regard the destination of Tignes as a product in itself made up several different components. However, it is also possible to regard the specific attractions offered within resort as individual products which would then provide very specific insight into how each part of the destination is working and whether they are a successful and useful component to the resort as a whole. Tourist attractions together with the tourism industry can also be seen as ‘the tourism product’.55 Holloway argues that selling a touristic product, like an attraction, is like selling a
46 Weaver & Lawton. p.97, 100 47 Weaver & Lawton. pp.100-101 48 Weaver & Lawton. pp.146-147 49 Das, Debadyuti., Sharma, Sushil Kumar., Mohapatra, Pratap K J. & Sarkar, Ashutosh. (2007) Factors influencing the attractiveness of a tourist destination: a case study. p.103 50 Kim, Dohee. & Perdue, Richard R. (2011) The influence of image on destination attractiveness. p.226 51 Kim & Perdue. p.227 52 Weaver & Lawton. p.222 53 Kotler, Philip., Armstrong, Gary., Wong, Veronica. & Saunders, John. (2008) Principles of Marketing. Fifth European Edition. p.49 54 Kotler et al. p.49 55 Weaver & Lawton. p.129
15 dream, as experiences are intangible.56 This aspect is important as not everyone will see perceive the product in the same way. The product thus becomes the experience of the product rather than the attraction in itself. Given that many attractions in Tignes are outdoors, weather can also be seen as an important factor in the experience of the product. Essentially the goal for Tignes is to create new experiences that can serve to lengthen the high season period over the year, making it less seasonally dependent as mentioned above. Attractiveness is furthermore a factor in determining the number and type of visitors that will choose the resort as their destination.
3.3 Tourist types Segmentation of tourists is something that remains important to the tourism industry and tourism research and allows destinations to identify their key marketing groups. Segmentation can be done geographically, demographically, psychographically or behaviorally.57 Weaver and Lawton claim that tourists are categorized into four major types primarily; domestic and international, stay overs and excursions.58 However, they do recognize that travel purpose is a main part of what defines a tourist.59 Examples include leisure and recreation and sport tourists. Needham et al.’s study supports the fact that visitors seek out specific activities to fulfill motivations and needs.60 For the basis of the study, geographical, demographical and behavioral aspects are valued above psychographical. Knowing your market is extremely important for resort development in order to choose the appropriate products and further develop the resort to accommodate the needs of these people. If one wishes to expand and attract new markets, the principle remains the same. Knowledge about tourist types and clientele can thus be judged to be a major factor in destination and product development. During the development of the resort the numbers of tourists also vary as is explained by Butler’s lifecycle model below.
3.4 Destination development lifecycle The Butler sequence is a well-known, used and applied model within tourism research and is, simplified, an S-shaped curve showing the development of a resort within its lifecycle.61 The different stages are, as based on Weaver and Lawton’s work62; Exploration Tourism as an industry is practically non-existent and so is the number of visitors. The stage can be seen as a “pre-tourism” where any visitors must make all arrangements themselves based on what is available in the local community.63 Involvement During this stage, number of visitors start to increase, as does the efforts within the destination to accommodate them. Tourism is seen as positive and income is increased.64
56 Holloway. p.10 57 Holloway. pp.66-69 58 Weaver & Lawton. p.35 59 Weaver & Lawton. p.29 60 Needham, Mark, D., Wood, Colin J.B., & Rollins, Rick B., (2004) Understanding summer visitors and their experiences at the Whistler Mountain Ski area, Canada. p.239 61 Weaver & Lawton. p.307 62 Weaver & Lawton. pp.308-316 63 Wever & Lawton. pp.308-310 64 Weaver & Lawtn. pp.310-311
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Development During this stage a rapid growth can be observed as well as major changes within the resort. A key factor is for the resort to remain in control of the development.65 Consolidation This stage involves a decrease in growth rate, however the general trend is still positive. Tourism exists on a large scale and the economy depends on it. Furthermore, seasonality issues arise.66 Stagnation Within the stagnation phase peak number of visitors has been reached and there may be too much capacity. The resort can be seen as out of fashion and rely on return visitors.67 Decline or Rejuvenation Decline happens when resorts fail to attract new or return visitors, or when stakeholders do not try or fail to develop their products.68 Rejuvenation occur when new touristic products are introduced and the destinations image and unique features once again become attractive. This positive development is usually a consequence of proactive planning and strategies. 69
An application of this to already established destinations will put the focus within the consolidation, and thereafter, the stagnation phase. From this point onwards, managerial decisions regarding long term planning will determine the inevitable fate of the destination; rejuvenation or decline.70 As mentioned above, Weaver suggests that one reason for decline is that stakeholders within the destination do not attempt to revitalize the attractions or touristic products or that these measures fail.71 Rejuvenation is not believed to occur naturally but through a deliberate decision and development process carried out by stakeholders.72 Weaver and Lawton suggest that for ski resorts in general, many are now going through the consolidation stage and stresses that viability is largely climate dependent, despite artificial snow making.73 However, should an attempt at marketing a resort for its summer attractions be considered a well-established destination or do we indeed need to separate this development completely and look at it as a separate resort from the start? This is interesting in terms of looking at the specific summer development instead of at Tignes as a whole. If we regard the summer specifically, thus respecting the focus and scope of the study, it may be more appropriate to place Tignes in an earlier stage of development. Holloway stresses that a resort will always benefit from being unique and by offering more benefits rather than being an ‘identikit’ destination and furthermore that this, like the Butler sequence suggest, depends on constant development and rejuvenation.74 Models such as the Butler curve can be useful in terms of explaining the stages of development in resort as these often remain fairly general and can be applied globally.
65 Weaver & Lawton. p.313 66 Weaver & Lawton. p.314 67 Weaver& Lawton. pp.314-315 68 Weaver & Lawton. p.315 69 Weaver & Lawton. p.316 70 Weaver & Lawton. p.315. 71 Weaver & Lawton. p.315 72 Weaver & Lawton. p.316 73 Weaver & Lawton. p.143 74 Holloway. pp.215-216
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The Butler sequence
Source: Butler (1980)75
The results obtained in the study will help further place Tignes on the curve and determine at which stage in the development they are. This will be done through presenting statistical results as a graph and through the interview where aspects such as growth and development are discussed. The curve can also help predict what Tignes can expect in terms of growth and stagnation, depending on their own actions. The Butler curve, although still somewhat generalized, remains a measurement tool for development and is therefore still relevant to the development of Tignes as a summer resort.
3.5 Climate change When discussing development of tourism one cannot exclude climate change as a factor and reason for development. The Butler curve above discusses deliberate actions and their effects but fail to include other factors such as climate that are also affecting tourism potential. Unfortunately most development is responsive action and not proactive, meaning it is only when the consequences of climate change has been seen that the action to develop or counteract is taken. A more proactive approach would be recommendable as it allows a longer timescale to implement changes. Several studies involving the Alps, alpine resorts and their future have been done in relation to climate change. Needham et al. also mentioned studies supporting the summer season as a potential offset to effects of climate change on ski areas.76 The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) states that tourism is an especially climate sensitive sector and furthermore that winter sports tourism is “inherently sensitive to climatic conditions”77 Tignes situation is as mentioned earlier unique in the sense that the glacier has allowed “traditional winter sports tourism” outside of the winter season and therefore what is relevant climatic changes for winter sports tourism is also relevant for summer tourism in Tignes. Tignes, a high altitude resort might however at least initially benefit if lower altitude resorts are affected by climate change and have to reduce opening days, especially in the winter.78 Furthermore, Tignes, like other high altitude resorts in Soboll and Dingeldey’s study, should be manageable in terms of snow availability even in the future.79 Climate change is obvious if one looks at the status of glaciers and their retreat over the last century, including in Tignes. Shijin et al. states the fairly obvious; the retreat of
75 http://www.hotelmule.com/management/attachments/2010/07/26_201007120616002WInG.gif, accessed on 2014-03-14 76 Needham et al. p.234 77 Soboll, Anja & Dingeldey, Alexander. (2012) The future impact of climate change on Alpine winter tourism: a high-resolution simulation system in the German and Austrian Alps. p.101 78 Soboll & Dingeldey. p.109 79 Soboll & Dingeldey. p.115
18 glaciers also has an effect on glacier tourism.80 It is important to note that Tignes is not excluded from climate change but in terms of attractiveness for tourism and future potential, Tignes can still be considered in a favorable position, for all seasons, if one is to draw any conclusions from previously mentioned research. Moreover a few studies have been done in relation to these subjects and are therefore relevant to mention.
3.6 Previous studies Previous studies focusing on summer development include studies such as “Vintersportorten - året runt”, a project under ETOUR, European Tourism Research Institute”.81 This study serves to give light to especially Åre, and its development from a winter resort to an all year round attraction. The study has compared the development to other resorts such as Whistler, Ischgl and Oppdal. Furthermore it highlights different factors that they have identified as common factors for success from the different resorts. These include vision, organization, ownership structure, activities, market, brand, company cultures, natural resources and cultural heritage82. In this study parallels can be drawn to how Tignes has been developed and the success factors are similar and thus further support how Tignes worked with the summer season so far. The authors further agree that number of visitor nights spent and especially the increase of such as well as using the resorts capacity is an important indicator of success.83 This supports the need for a quantitative aspect when it comes to measuring the level of success in development of a resort, which is in accordance with this study.
Another study regarding the development of a summer season in a traditional winter resort has been carried out by Linda Harkman.84 The purpose of which was to carry out a case study to investigate Sälen’s potential for development of a summer season and to become a functioning year-round resort. Harkman’s study includes a brief comparison with other resorts to be able to compare and evaluate Sälen in terms of current summer activities, strategies for future development, key stakeholders, target groups and marketing. Harkman concludes that Sälen sets itself apart by having a separate group responsible for only summer tourism. This is a contrast to Tignes which has one organization that is responsible for resort management. Furthermore Harkman mentions success factors in other resorts such as Idre where one has managed to attract high profile athletes and thus improving the image of the resort.85 The same strategy is being employed in Tignes. Harkman also discusses the issue of branding and like the above study mentioned, concludes that it is an advantage of having a strong winter brand to benefit from, but that it can also be hard to integrate new attractions into an already existing brand.86
80 Shijin, Wang., Yuanqing, He. & Xiaodong, Song. (2010) Impacts of climate warming on alpine glacier tourism and adaptive measures: a case study of Baishui Glacier No.1 in Yulong Snow Mountain, Southwestern China. p.167 81 Flagestad et al. Vintersportorten – året runt. 82 Flagestad et al. pp.6-7 83 Flagestad et al. p.9 84 Harkman. Det gröna sälen. 85 Harkman. p.29 86 Harkman. p.28,30
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4. Results
4.1 Results from interview and other qualitative results These results include the qualitative results from the interview as well as important facts and statements taken from the same documents that have been used for extraction of statistical results. These have been separated from the quantitative results as to provide a clearer overview. These facts and information include long term strategy regarding investments and budgetary allocations as well as other information that is relevant to the content discussed in the interview.
The interview confirmed that what prompted the development of the summer season was that the glacier was no longer skiable all year due to climate changes and that one needed to make the decision whether Tignes should go for a limited one season approach or to keep the summer season but in a different format. Through the interview, a key action was identified as a start to the development; the politicians at the time decided in favor of the summer season when faced with the decision of stopping it in its current form or to change it. This was at the start of the 2000s. As in many other places the decision was probably taken in a later stage than it should have as one did not react until the effect of climate change on the glacier was noticeable.
Through the development the image of Tignes has changed as well from being focused on skiing to a more traditional summer program, but with certain unique features such as gratuity and innovation in regards to new activities or attractions. A focus on the change was also put in place by hosting international Beach soccer events which clearly was not a part of Tignes’ previous image. TD also notes how gratuity is replacing skiing as the differential/unique factor for Tignes.
The development since have followed multi-year plans that have been carefully put together and implemented step by step. In short below, the implementations which were a part of the latest business plan for the resort (2009-2013) 2009: free carte Sportignes 2010: free bike park and lifts 2011: free lifts for pedestrians 2012-2014: consolidation of offer87 Before this, the bike park existed but in a paying form, as did the carte Sportignes. From the start of the development about 2002, one developed infrastructures such as the Lagon, the sport beach and football fields. A side note is that the tourism income in 2012, with free activities is 12000€ less than in 2008 which was the last summer that the carte Sportignes was not free.88
The strategy for the products and Tignes as a resort was clear and Tignes wanted to create a versatile and varied offer of activities, which were free. The strategy was to move away from the one-attraction setup and thus become less dependable on it. Furthermore, one really strong attraction, equivalent to that of skiing would be hard to create. Creating a wide and therefore strong array of activities to choose from was seen as the solution. However, the strategy was to first develop the product to attain a certain value and then add a supplementary value to it
87 Tignes Développement. Bilan été. p.107 88 TD. Réunion Économique. p.31
20 by making it free using the thesis that “A gift is not really a gift if it’s not worth anything”89 The strategy of diversifying was made possible to some extent due to the natural resources that do exist in Tignes, such as the lake, which is an asset that not many alpine resorts have. Other attractions, such as the bike park are also dependent on the natural resources.
There is an awareness that Tignes is now still growing in the summer due to constant renewal and a well-developed plan and that this can change if one stops. They regard staying dynamic as a vital point to a continued success and realize that even if the growth rate now slows down the resort will still be doing well, especially compared to other resorts. Other points of development are seen as summer events, golf and disabled sports. To gain an outside perspective and investigate weak aspects and points of development a student on a trainee program, an intern, has been employed. The success of the long-term strategy can be clearly seen in a comparison with Val d’Isère who was forced to make their bike park free when Tignes did so, as the two resorts are linked, but they however lacked the background development to make this move. Out of the 110 000 people using the bike park in 2013, 85 000 come from Tignes. A clear long term strategy with part time goals can thus be seen as important.
There is also a belief that the summer season is allowed to exist within its current form with a strong focus on the product, which also takes the main part of the budget, about 70 percent because the winter season is so strong and consequently Tignes as a brand, which they take advantage of in the summer. Only 20 and 10 percent respectively is spent on animations/small events and communication/marketing. TD decided in the business plan for 2003-2008 to treat Tignes as a brand instead of as a product leader, meaning a change of focus away from product qualities and creating a brand that has an added intrinsic value to it.90 The brand focus, or what sets Tignes apart in the summer, has now changed from skiing to free activities. A point for the future is to find the correct mix of events and product focus as it is believed that none could exist successfully without the other. As of right now it is recognized that there is no major event in the summer, only larger animations during the weeks.
Visitors to Tignes in the summer used to be 80 percent skiers, something which was considered a mono-culture, another term for a single attraction destination. After the current developments there are only 10 percent of people who ski, which is an important change, even when considering that the number of visitors have gone up by 36 percent in the last 6 years. In terms of visitors there are, like the activities, a wider variety of types of tourists in terms of interests, age etc. This is a contrast to the winter when the stereotypical ski tourist is still very strong. Targeting several smaller markets through different attractions has created a larger tourist base and visitor potential. By changing and expanding the activities and investing in infrastructures they have been able to attract new groups of tourists/markets to the resort, such as high level athletes and downhill bikers. A difference between the summer and the winter season is that the typical winter tourist is more stereotypical whereas there are more different types of tourists in the summer, more diversity.
4.2 Statistical results The results found from the documents provided by TD are presented below in graphical form accompanied by an explanatory text.
89 Interview Sebastien Mérignargues, Tignes Développement. 2014-03-13. Author’s translation, see appendix 9.1. 90 TD. Bilan été. p.52
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The visitor statistics have been collected by the company Comète which is independent and deals with statistics from resorts all over the Alps.91 It has been noted that the statistics regarding visitors is less detailed than in the winter period where more information is gathered. The summer period is thus only explained in number of total visitors. The statistics go back to 2008.
The most relevant method of analysis for this data will be a time series analysis as described by Eggeby and Söderberg.92 The analysis will include a breakdown to index which will facilitate the comparison of values as well as defining trendlines for the data. This analysis is of use when two factors in relation to each other need to be compared in development over time. How the time series analysis and the calculations have been done is explained more thoroughly below.
4.2.1 General statistics overview
Table 1. Developments within the summer season Developments within the summer season 400000
350000
300000 Number of nights
Stays
250000
Carte Sportignes 200000 distribution
Carte Sportignes users Frequentation 150000 Bike park users
100000 Pedestrians using lifts
50000
0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Source: Tignes Développement. Réunion Économique Publique and Tignes Développement. Bilan été 2013
91 TD. Réunion Économique Publique. p.4 92 Eggeby & Söderberg. p.170
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Table 2. Tignes visitor statistics
Year 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Number of nights 259500 264690 316590 324378 331800 352200 100% 102% 122% 125% 128% 136%
Stays 43250 44115 52765 54063 55300 58700 100% 102% 122% 125% 128% 136%
Carte Sportignes users 24700 50200 69700 101500 125900 132000 100% 203% 282% 411% 510% 534%
Carte Sportignes distribution 1500 18000 25000 27000 32200 36100 100% 1200% 1667% 1800% 2147% 2407%
Bike park users 23600 55800 80000 100000 111000 100% 236% 339% 424% 470%
Pedestrians using lifts 15000 23600 33400 35000 100% 157% 223% 233%
Source: Tignes Développement. Réunion Économique Publique and Tignes Développement. Bilan été 2013.
Comments on statistics above: - The number of nights and numbers of stays correspond. Stays are multiplied by 6 to reach the total number of nights as this is the standard amount of days. - Highlighted numbers in the table are specific numbers mentioned in the documents, the others have been calculated to an approximation from a percentage graph displayed in the document. - The numbers also appear to have been rounded off in the documents, from which they have been extracted, which may skew results slightly. - Below the number is the percentage increase using the start year for each category as 100 percent.
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4.2.2 Tignes’ development compared to other resorts.
Other important numbers include the comparison of Tignes’ development compared to other alpine resorts in France which represent their main competitors. This is one way that success is often measured. Below is a representation of Tignes’ development in relation to the mean development of other resorts. This already includes a calculation using time series analysis and index numbers. However to further clarify these trends a graph using trendlines has been added. For this part index numbers already existed.
Table 3. Tignes vs. other resorts
Source: Tignes Développement. Bilan été.
Table 4. Time series analysis: Tignes vs. other alpine resorts
Tignes vs other alpine resorts 150 Tignes index 140
130 General development
120 alpine resorts index
Index 110 Trendline Tignes 100
90 Trendline general 80 alpine resorts 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 development
Comments: Tignes has compared to the average alpine resort had a very different development over the past couple of years, showing that there is likely to be one or several factors that differentiate the resort from its competitors.
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4.2.3 Bike park statistics
The first complete time series analysis includes a comparison between the increase in number of visitors and the increase in number of people using the bike park as this has been deemed to be the main attraction. The base year is thus set to be 2009 as data is not available before that. The index for 2009 is thus 100. The index is thereafter calculated using by dividing the value of year x with the value of 2009 and then multiplying by a 100.93
Index = (value year x/ value year2009) *100
The calculations give the following table:
Table 5. Index calculation Bikepark vs. visitors
Year Bikepark Index Visitors Index 2009 23600 100 264690 100 2010 55800 236 316590 120 2011 80000 339 324378 123 2012 100000 424 331800 125 2013 111000 470 352200 135 Source: Tignes Développement. Bilan été 2013 and Tignes Développement. Réunion Économique Publique.
This gives a graph with the following result:
Table 6. Time series analysis: Bike park vs. general number of visitors
Bikepark vs. general number of visitors 600
500
400 Bikepark index
300 Visitor index Index Trendline Bikepark 200 Trendline visitors 100
0 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Comments: Shown on the graph is also the trendline which gives displays the mean increase in the same timeline. From this graph it is abundantly clear that the bike park represents a major increase compared to the total number of visitors and therefore reinforces its status as the main summer attraction and a large factor in the summer development process. One weakness with the Bike Park data is that it includes data from Val d’Isère. This is a limitation that needs to be noted as the Bike Park is an activity offered by Tignes and Val d’Isère
93 Eggeby & Söderberg, p.173
25 combined. It is therefore difficult to separate numbers properly. We can however observe that the percentage of the number of people using the bike park is increasing, from 2008 where it is at almost 9 percent of visitors and in 2013 where it has increased to 31.5 percent of all visitors.
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4.2.4 Carte Sportignes statistics
If we thereafter look at the carte Sportignes we can see the following development:
Table 7. Index calculation: Carte Sportignes use vs. distribution
Carte Sportignes use vs. distribution Mean number of activities per distribution index users index card 2008 1500 100 24700 100 16.47 2009 18000 1200 50200 203 2.79 2010 25000 1667 69700 282 2.79 2011 27000 1800 101500 411 3.76 2012 32200 2147 125900 510 3.91 2013 36100 2407 132000 534 3.66 Increase x24 x5 Source: Tignes Développement. Bilan été 2013.
Table 8. Time series analysis: Carte Sportignes use vs. distribution
Carte sportignes use vs distribution 3000
2500
2000 distribution index
1500 use index Index Trendline distribution 1000 Trendline use 500
0 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Comments: The carte Sportignes was made free in 2009 when we can see the big jump in distribution numbers. However what is especially interesting to look at is that the number of cards distributed has increased by 24 times and the frequentation only by 5. Furthermore we can observe a mean number of activities/frequentation per card which has rapidly decreased as the card was made free. The carte Sportignes is delivered to all tourists in resort who purchase their accommodation from Tignes agreed list of partners. Furthermore the card can be purchased if one is not staying at an accommodation eligible for the card.94 Since we can in no way differentiate between these two groups, a comparison between distribution and use is more interesting than comparing it to the total number of visitors.
94 http://www.tignes.net/en/summer-sports/sportignes-card-850.html, accessed on 2014-05-21
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4.2.5 Winter vs. summer statistics
This study focuses mainly on the summer but it is important to gain a perspective on what the winter is like in comparison below is a table using visitor statistics from 2008 till 2013 followed by a time series analysis graph.
Table 9. Index calculation: winter vs. summer frequentation
winter vs. summer frequentation winter index summer index 2008 2104300 100 259500 100 2009 2055000 98 264690 102 2010 2036200 97 316590 122 2011 2059000 98 324378 125 2012 2044800 97 331800 128 2013 2051000 97 352200 136 Source: Tignes Développement. Réunion Économique Publique.
Table 10. Time series analysis: winter vs. summer development
Winter vs. summer development 150 140 Winter development 130 index 120 Summer development
110 index Index 100 Trendline winter development 90 Trendline summer 80 development 70 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
Comments: This show how the summer development is still very much growing compared to the winter which seems to have stagnated and has remained fairly stable for the past 6 years. However if we look at a comparison, Tignes’ summer visitors are only up to 12-17 percent of the winter occupation, as shown below in table 11.
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Table 11. Summer vs. winter frequentation percentage
Summer vs. winter frequentation percentage winter summer summer percentage % 2008 2104300 259500 12 2009 2055000 264690 13 2010 2036200 316590 16 2011 2059000 324378 16 2012 2044800 331800 16 2013 2051000 352200 17 Source: Tignes Développement. Réunion Économique Publique.
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5. Analysis
Looking at what decisions have been taken in Tignes and the visitor statistics one can see that from 2009 to 2010 there is a strong increase in nights spent in the resort which coincides with the gratuity of the bike park. Afterwards there is a strong increase in clients using the bike park but that has now started consolidating and is not increasing at the same rate. The first year it was free usage, the number of visitors more than doubled from the year before. The same kind of behavior can be observed in relation to the carte Sportignes, which doubled in use from 2008-2009 when it became free. Interestingly enough if one looks at how many Sportignes cards were used and distributed we can see that distribution has gone up to 24 times as many but the frequentations is only 5 times as many in 2013 as in 2008. Pedestrians using lifts did not have quite the same effect but still increased by 50 percent when made free. Gratuity as a strategy can thus so far be seen as successful, at least in the initial stages. As seen above, it is confirmed by the different activities separately. The successive development and infrastructure investments are also mentioned by Flagestad et al. as a success factor.95 These steps above, related to the relevant statistical figures shows a strong connection between positive development and active planning. Below is a more detailed explanation into the factors relevant to Tignes’ summer season development.
Tignes in relation to the Butler curve can thus be placed somewhere in the end of the development phase or start consolidation stage, which is recognized by TD through their business plan. The stagnation phase is interesting in the aspect that the summer season already sees a major underutilization of capacity, even in the current peak periods. However, the question remains; what can be seen as peak number of visitors and what is the actual limit for summer tourism within Tignes? The next step will however be to improve further or possibly face a decline. Active management resort have the intention of keeping Tignes’ positive development and delving into new markets and attractions to keep the curve going up, and judging by previous strategies they are in a good position to do so. TD also seems aware of this concept of destination development which can only be seen as a positive aspect. TD in the interview mentioned that one wanted a more varied offer and a wider spread of activities and emphasized being dynamic in further development as a key factor. One can still see that the bike park now accounts for over 30 percent of the visitors, which is nowhere near the 80 percent that used to be there for skiing but still represents a large number and percentage. TD seems aware of the concept that Butler curve represents and such knowledge is important together with a deep understanding for the resort and its assets. Something which is sought, for example, by employing someone to investigate the specific development and points of improvement. This kind of asset analysis is also recommended by Weaver and Lawton.96 Furthermore their strategies include several years and can be seen as long-term planning for the resort. There are so far some areas that have been identified for further development, like the golf course or disability sports. However, to judge whether these are viable potential future attractions a more in depth study is needed.
It appears Tignes’ multitude of offers have really made a big impact on the number of visitors and one can clearly see that the bike park is a strong point for the resort as well as the carte Sportignes. The bike park is out of the two, the more attractive attraction and a stronger point, as shown through the quantitative results. The two activities can easily claim the status as main attractions even though one of them in itself represents a cluster of products/activities. Flagestad et al. states that summer visitors are often reluctant to book their activities in before
95 Flagestad. p.16 96 Weaver & Lawton. pp.146-147
30 arrival due to factors such as weather.97 This favors a setup like the carte Sportignes where activities have an ‘à la carte’ setup. The activities are almost considered as a bonus, an extra that may not attract customers in itself as much as the bike park but will add value to the product of Tignes. The distribution of the cards has increased more exponentially than the frequentation. It appears the use of each card has gone down as a consequence as well, meaning that because the card is free, the people do not feel like they have to make the most of it, but merely use it for whatever suits them as no financial cost or loss is experienced by the visitor. Tignes sees this as a positive note and as a way for a tourist to “customize their week” by only using what they like.98 The gratuity of the card as well as the bike park appears to have been well thought through and is made possible by the focus on the product within the budget. A problem that may occur in the future is if Tignes decides it is not viable to spend the money themselves on making a lot of activities free and an “increase” or add of a price might make the attraction, or product, less attractive. As is mentioned in the results, Tignes’ tourism income is still not up to the same amount as before the gratuity of the Sportignes card was introduced, despite the major increase in number of visitors. It is clear that Tignes is trying to carefully manage its attractions and create an attractive image for itself, even though the means might be questioned financially.
The current “free” activities exist as the budget allows for a main focus on the product itself, taking away from other aspects such as marketing. This is deemed viable due to the major marketing strategies put in place during the winter concerning Tignes as a brand. Tignes has in terms of the marketing mix positioned themselves with an attractive offer of qualitative products, gratuity, and furthermore positioning themselves apart from other resorts and they take advantage of their strong winter brand for marketing purposes. The positioning of Tignes can also be considered a strong suit as resort management have constantly worked to set Tignes apart from other resorts, from the start using 365 days of skiing, secondly by hosting international beach soccer events in an untraditional environment, thirdly by making the controversial move to free activities and continually by making the brand Tignes stand out. This may be especially true in the winter but also for the summer season. Furthermore, the summer season needs this kind of positioning as they have now moved to a more classical range of summer activities. Gratuity is also recognized as a differential factor. It is recognized by TD that the summer season in its current form would not be viable if it was not for the winter. Completely separating the development of the two seasons is thus hard as the methods used are largely interdependent. A comparison between the two seasons was nonetheless made to determine the trends of development. The winter season is fairly stable and somewhat stagnant and furthermore one can even see a slight decline. The logical deduction from this is that Tignes has reached a carrying capacity and will need a big change to affect the visitor numbers during its winter season. The summer season is on a strong increasing trend but has so far only reached 1/6th of the winter numbers, which shows a great potential for the future as the infrastructure and basic amenities in terms of accommodation, parking and so forth already exist.
In terms of clientele there is no other information other quantitative information other than visitor number and users of the bike park to indicate how the clientele has changed. The interview indicated that there is a bigger diversity in the summer. However more data on this would be necessary to fully understand the change and to perform a complete analysis. Furthermore, this information is needed to more accurately determine target markets. If the summer season for whatever reason can no longer benefit from the marketing and
97 Flagestad et al. p.20 98 TD. Réunion Économique. p.27
31 communication of the winter season, this information is crucial for further development. Moreover this is encouraged and new markets are sought after through ex. athlete training camps, the investment of the Tignespace, a conference and sports complex as well as a thought of developing the golf course or start developing products aimed at groups of disabled people. A greater diversity is easily explained by the multitude of activities and attractions offered whereas the winter is still very much focused on just skiing. By diversifying attractions one has also diversified the clientele, something which can be both a negative and a positive aspect. A more diverse clientele means less risk should one attraction disappear but is also more complicated in terms of marketing. By marketing to a large group, people may feel less targeted and attracted to the product. It remains clear though, through the quantitative and qualitative data, that for now the strategy is working. Holloway supports the multiple attraction theory where he means that a large concentration of different activities provide added value and improve chances of success.99 A variety of activities is also mentioned as a success factor by Flagestad et al. in their study of summer seasons in winter resorts.100 Success can also be mentioned as a relative notion, meaning doing better than your competitor. The statistics show that Tignes is generally doing better than the mean alpine resort. In a more specific comparison, Tignes appears to be doing better compared to Val d’Isère, even though the both are closely linked. This is also due to active resort management.
The summer is becoming stronger but one needs to recognize that Tignes’ resources are still massively underutilized in the summer. Looking at a comparison of visitor statistics, the summer numbers only reach between 12 and 17 percent of the winter numbers. The winter season seems fairly stagnant and it would appear at its carrying capacity, the summer however is far behind and can still show a large growth in visitor numbers. However it is hard to imagine a scenario where the summer will ever be as important as the winter season. A question to pose is if there is enough demand for alpine summer tourism, given its competition with other summer holiday types such as beach and sun, and whether such a scenario is even possible. The winter season’s advantage is that it plays at its strength and plays the important yet stereotypical role of skiing holiday in the appropriate season. Moreover, the summer is recognized as too weak to stand on its own without the benefits of particularly the winter season’s marketing and image. Flagestad et al.’s study shows that the summer brand is often dependent on a strong winter one and that the summer one, albeit weaker will not negatively impact the winter one.101
Despite climate change Tignes is still in a very good position, especially considering altitude to keep a strong winter season for a long time. Climate change is something which hasn’t been fully discussed as it does effect winter more so than summer, but it may ultimately have consequences for the summer if winter starts to decline significantly. Climate change can also be judged to be a key factor for the initial development of the summer season in its current state. Natural attractions are a big part of Tignes’ attractiveness touristically but it is also important to note that some restrictions in terms of artificial development exist due to the Vanoise National Park. However, the regulations also serve to help preserve the natural heritage of the resort, especially facing possible climate change effects. However, during the time period studied it would be impossible to draw any significant conclusions when it comes to current climate change effects as the time span needs to be much wider than 1,5 decades.
99 Holloway. p.216 100 Flagestad et al. p.6 101 Flagestad et al. p.27
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Seasonality is still an issue but it is decreasing due to the growth in summer guests. The general result from the summer season development is a positive trend and that is in line with counteracting issues of seasonality. The issue will still exist within the season as well, but on a year round basis the development is positive for the resort as it keeps more people employed102 and furthermore that inhabitants also can profit from the activities offered. Although TD doesn’t specifically mention seasonality as an issue it can still be observed as a phenomenon, and the decision to keep the summer season going the resort showed an understanding for how the city and its inhabitant could benefit from not being entirely dependent on the winter season and its tourism income. Being dependent on the winter brand and moreover a focus on year round branding is mentioned by Flagestad et al. as a factor that is common for many winter resorts trying to extend to a successful year round resort.103
The final note is that Tignes is wholly dependent on its tourism income and therefore a large investment and long term strategies as shown are necessary for a successful future. The strategies and developments seen in Tignes echo those of successful resorts in previous studies, and although each case is unique, there seem to be a few general factors that can still be seen as the key to success. These include, among others, activities and asset management, organizational structure, brand and target markets, all of which are discussed above.
102 TD. Réunion Economique. p.28 103 Flagestad et al. p.7
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6. Conclusions
The purpose of the study was to investigate Tignes as a resort in terms of development during the summer season and answer the research questions: - Which actions have been taken to develop Tignes as a summer resort, why, and what are the consequences? - How has the development changed the number and types of visitors? The purpose was seen as relevant due to the many consequences that exist in tourism due to climate changes as well as other issues such as seasonality.
The first questions are very detailed in reality but simplified one can see that Tignes has developed a multi-year strategy that included developing attractions, a major focus on the product itself and furthermore making it attractive using gratuity and benefiting from the winter brand. Sometimes it is hard to separate the summer and winter season in this aspect as the brand of Tignes now includes both summer and winter. However it is very clear that the management of the resort is very different in the two seasons. The decision to develop the summer resort has one main factor, the decline of the glacier due to global heating and climate change. This prompted, although maybe slightly late, the responsive action of developing the summer season. However it is clear that Tignes has in the short development time gone from just being responsive to being proactive in their management.
Climate change has to be recognized as a contributing factor to change but in the short time span that is being investigated it is hard to draw any conclusions on future effects. Summer can however be seen as a potential offset to climate change effects in ski areas.104 One can observe that the general development in the Alps is that climate change is changing the way winter seasons are run, how snow is provided and that in general, a brighter, or slightly longer future is forecasted for resorts at higher altitudes.105
Having a responsible body of organization that works efficiently according to a well- established strategy has given clear positive results and show that one can develop and flourish even when others with the same resources do not. The difference is clearly the strategy as can be seen through a comparison with neighboring resort Val d’Isère, as stated in the results, where less planning can be identified. A further investigation into this resort would however be necessary for a deeper, more complete comparison. It needs to be recognized, without diminishing the work of the management, that Tignes also has many natural attractions and even a lake, which has played a major role in the development of the summer activities and its possibilities. The use of natural resources in developing the new main attractions is evident in the bike park and the Sportignes card which uses the mountains, lifts and the lake. The basic structures were thus already in place before development.
Through this development we can see a rise in visitors, in the number of attractions, a change in image and a change in clientele. As the development is still in a quite early stage it is hard to draw any conclusions about long term effects of the summer season growth. The number are however very clear, the last couple of years has been a period of intense growth and Tignes has successfully gained visitors whilst competing resorts have declined. The clientele is not described in enough detail to draw any important conclusions but it appears that there is a greater diversity, compared to the winter season, which is due to a greater diversity in attractions.
104 Needham et al. p.234 105 Soboll & Dingeldey. p.102., Hill et al. p.74
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7. Reflections
I believe that Tignes to a certain extent is working in the correct way to develop a more traditional summer season. It is supported by the fact that previous studies presenting successful destination development show the same signs and have gone through the same steps and have a similar organization. Tignes, as a resort, and their destination management also do seem aware of issues within destination development and are making a continual effort in trying to develop the summer and have moved from being reactionary to being proactive which is a key part.
The future will tell whether Tignes’ development of the summer season is a success as there is still a large potential for further development and growth. It is up to resort management to stay dynamic and remain proactive to further improve the summer season, which is now starting to become well established. Another key element lies making it profitable on its own and less dependent on the winter season.
However as discussed I do believe that uniqueness and finding new niche markets is a main factor in achieving success. I do not necessarily agree that providing free activities is the best way to differentiate themselves on the market, even though it has worked so far. The gratuity is currently made possible because of winter marketing and a product focused budget. The summer season for now is thus not sustainable on its own, meaning that it is a weak product in itself. The question is if other benefits that are acquired within the resort make up for the price currently being paid through potential loss of income? This would also be a point for a future study.
Climate change is always an interesting perspective and it is important to not just state the obvious; that winters are getting warmer. In Tignes’ case they might actually see an initial increase in winter tourism income because of their ideal high altitude location. The summer season has already seen a change in activity due to climate change effects on the glacier and for now the summer season seems to be stabilized and no immediate future climate threats can be identified.
Further studies are needed to really investigate how visitors have changed over the summer as the current data is very limited. This kind of information is necessary to identify strong and weak target markets.
All in all, as in any case study, strong and weak points can be found. This study would benefit from further interviews with other people in resort as well as a more profound statistical analysis that is more detailed, especially in terms of visitor demographics. Due to time constraints this will have to be a point for a second case study of the resort, however, I do still believe some value can be found in the results acquired despite their limitations.
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8. Bibliography
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Eggeby, Eva & Söderberg, Johan. (1999) Kvantitativa metoder – för samhällsvetare och humanister. Lund: Studentlitteratur.
Flagestad, Arvid., Svensk, Göran., Nordin, Sara. & Lexhagen, Maria. (2004) Vintersportorten – året runt. Östersund: ETOUR.
Furunes, Trude & Mykletun, Reidar J. (2012) Frozen Adventure at Risk? A 7- Year Follow-up Study of Norwegian Glacier Tourism. Scandinavian Journal of Hospitality and Tourism, 12:4, 324-348.
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Higham, James & Hinch, Tom. (2001) Tourism, sport and seasons: the challenges and potential of overcoming seasonality in the sport and tourism sectors. Elsevier. Tourism Management 23 (2002) pp.175-185.
Hill, Margot., Wallner, Astrid. & Furtado, Jose. (2010) Reducing vulnerability to climate change in the Swiss Alps: a study of adaptive planning. Taylor & Francis: Climate Policy, 10:1, 70-86.
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Moen, Jon. & Fredman, Peter. (2007) Effects of climate change on alpine skiing in Sweden. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Volume 15, No. 4: 418-437.
Morrison, Clare. & Pickering, Catherine M. (2013) Perceptions of climate change impacts, adaptations and limits to adaptation in the Australian Alps: the ski-tourism industry and key stakeholders. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Volume 21, No. 2: 173-191.
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Needham, Mark, D., Wood, Colin J.B., & Rollins, Rick B., (2004) Understanding summer visitors and their experiences at the Whistler Mountain Ski area, Canada. International Mountain Society: Mountain Research and Development. Volume 24: 234-242.
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Purdie, Heather. (2013) Glacier Retreat and Tourism: Insights from New Zealand. Mountain Research and Development. 33(4): 463-472.
Shijin, Wang., Yuanqing, He. & Xiaodong, Song. (2010) Impacts of climate warming on alpine glacier tourism and adaptive measures: a case study of Baishui Glacier No.1 in Yulong Snow Mountain, Southwestern China. Journal of Earth Science, Vol.21, No.2: 166-178.
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Sébastien Mérignargues, Director, Tignes Développement 2014-03-31 Coralie Deschamps, stagiaire, Tignes Développement 2014-03-31
Unpublished material - Documents provided by Tignes Développement
Tignes Développement. (2013) Réunion Économique Publique 23 Juillet 2013. Tignes Développement (2013) Bilan été 2013.
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9. Appendix
9.1 Questionnaire for interview in original language, translated version in italics.
Quel actions/décisions est-ce que vous (Tignes/TD) avez pris au niveau de développement de la saison d’été ? et pourquoi ? What actions/decisions have you (Tignes) taken to develop the summer season? and why?
Est-ce que les conditions du glacier vous ont influencé au niveau des attractions pendant l’été ? Has the conditions/status of the glacier influenced the summer attractions?
Qu’est-ce que vous voyez comme conséquences, dans la station et au niveau de touristes/visiteurs ? What do you see as the consequences, in resort and in terms of visitors/guests?
Est-ce que vous voyez un changement de clientèle pendant l’été ? Have you seen a change in type of clients in the summer?
Est-ce que vous pensez que le développent de Tignes comme une station d’été a été un succès et pourquoi? Do you think that developing Tignes as a summer destination has been a success and why?
Qu’est-ce que c’est la prochaine étape dans le développement de l’été? What is the next step in developing the summer season?
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