"Tourism and Nature Conservation in the French Mountains : A Tumultuous Arranged Marriage (1890-1980)"

S. Hagimont, "Tourism and Nature Conservation in the French Mountains : A Tumultuous Arranged Marriage (1890-1980)" in Carlos Larrinaga et Donatella Strangio (ed.), Tourism Destinations and Policies in Europe During the 20th Century. Evolution, Strategies and Markets, Cham, Springer, 2025, p. 9-26.

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-88447-4

Hagimont asks why tourism and nature conservation came together in the twentieth century. He shows that shared concerns about the rise of tourism can be observed from the beginning of the century, but that at the same time tourism appears as a bulwark against hydroelectric development, seen as predatory. Tourism was theorized as a way of remunerating the protection of nature, which became an economic resource. Tourism can protect and develop, but it always threatens to destroy. It is a kind of pharmakon. Hagimont also shows that tourism was a response to the feeling of dispossession engendered by protection. He invites us to retrace the chronology of the social, economic and ecological reflections that gave rise to sus
tainable tourism.

About this Book :

This book analyzes key aspects of European tourism development in the 20th century, focusing on the development of tourist destinations, as well as tourism policies that were created to shape these destinations. The book also examines the private sector, which has traditionally played a determining role in European tourism development. While doing so, this volume presents case studies of Western European and Eastern European countries, such as Switzerland, Italy, France, Spain and Yugoslavia.

This book will appeal to students, researchers, and scholars of economics and business in general, and economic history and tourism studies in particular, interested in a better understanding of the development of tourism destinations and tourism policies in Europe during the 20th century.