scholarly journals Past changes in natural and managed snow reliability of French Alps ski resorts from 1961 to 2018

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas Berard-Chenu ◽  
Hugues François ◽  
Emmanuelle George ◽  
Samuel Morin
Keyword(s):  
Snow Cover ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Climatic Impact ◽  
Ski Resort ◽  
French Alps ◽  
Ski Resorts ◽  
Lower Elevation

Abstract. Snow reliability is a key climatic impact driver for the ski tourism industry, for which there is more literature regarding future projections than past observed impacts. This study provides an assessment of past changes in natural and managed snow cover reliability from 1961 to 2018 in the French Alps. In particular, we used snowmaking investment figures to infer the evolution of snowmaking coverage at the ski resort scale for 16 ski resorts in the French Alps. We find different benefits of snow management to reduce the variability and long term decrease in snow cover reliability because of the heterogeneity of the snowmaking deployment trajectories across ski resorts. The frequency of challenging conditions for ski resort operation over the 1991–2018 period increased in November and February to April compared to the reference period 1961–1990. In general, snowmaking had a positive impact on snow reliability, especially in December to January. While for the highest elevation ski resorts, snowmaking improved snow reliability for the core of the winter season, it did not counterbalance the decreasing trend in snow cover reliability for lower elevation ski resorts and in the spring.

scholarly journals Glaciers, snow and ski tourism in Austria’s changing climate

2011 ◽  
Vol 52 (58) ◽  
pp. 89-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Fischer ◽  
Marc Olefs ◽  
Jakob Abermann
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Adaptation Measures ◽  
Glacier Surface ◽  
Ski Resort ◽  
Ski Resorts ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Natural Snow

AbstarctThis study illustrates the relevance of cryospheric changes for, and their impact on, ski tourism in Austria. The results of several case studies on snow reliability, snow production and mass balance in glacier ski resorts in the Ötz and Stubai valleys are summarized. Climate data from Obergurgl (1936ma.s.l.) in the Ötz valley are analyzed with respect to the amount and duration of natural snow cover and the possibility of snow production. A case study on Mittelbergferner focuses on the impacts of glacial recession on a ski resort and possible adaptation measures. From long-term glacier inventory and short-term mass-balance data, the effect of operating ski resorts on glaciers is investigated. At Obergurgl, the probability of both snow cover and snow production is >80% from December to March and decreases significantly in the months before and after this peak season. The interannual variability of snow cover and production is low during the main season and higher in other months. Year-to-year differences are larger than any long-term trend. Glacier ski resorts must adapt to shrinking glacial area and falling glacier surface. Covering the glacier with textiles reduces ablation by 60% and results in significantly less volume loss than on uncovered parts of the glacier. Neither the mass-balance comparison between groomed and ungroomed areas nor the comparison of long-term volume changes between 10 ski resort glaciers and 100 surrounding glaciers showed evidence for an impact of the operation of ski resorts on the glaciers.

scholarly journals Insights and experiences from assessing the added value of PROSNOW, a prediction system to support snow management in Alpine ski resorts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith Köberl ◽  
Hugues François ◽  
Carlo Carmagnola ◽  
Pirmin Ebner ◽  
Daniel Günther ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Winter Season ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Significant Saving ◽  
The Real ◽  
Ski Resort ◽  
Ski Resorts ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Simulation Based ◽  
Ex Ante

<p>Within the H2020 project PROSNOW (www.prosnow.org), a demonstrator of a forecasting system that aims at increasing the anticipatory power of ski resorts in the field of snow management has been developed and tested. The PROSNOW® demonstrator, which includes a web-based user interface, represents a meteorological prediction and snow management system with the aim to provide improved anticipation capabilities at various time-scales, spanning from a few days to the seasonal scale of several months. The system holds significant potential to increase the resilience of socio-economic stakeholders and support their real-time adaptation. However, it is expected to take some time until users will gain confidence with the service, completely realize its power and its limitations, and learn to use it in the most effective way to exploit its potential. Although the final actual added value of the PROSNOW® prediction and snowmaking system can thus only be assessed several years after its initial implementation, some ex-ante and preliminary ex-post valuations have already been carried out following the real-time testing of the demonstrator in nine Alpine pilot ski resorts in the winter season 2019/20.</p><p>We applied two different approaches to assess the added value of PROSNOW®: (i) a simulation-based approach and (ii) a survey-based approach. The simulation-based approach consisted of the ex-ante valuation of PROSNOW®’s cost saving potential in the field of snowmaking, using meteorological hindcast data and simulations from snowpack models. The approach is based on decision theory and aims at estimating the cost savings achievable by using the PROSNOW® system to support a ski resort’s daily and strategic snowmaking decisions, compared to the information sources and strategies used so far. In the survey-based approach, which included both ex-ante and ex-post elements, pilot ski resorts were asked to (e)valuate the PROSNOW® demonstrator, based on their experiences from the real-time testing in the winter season 2019/20. The survey included questions about the perceived forecasting accuracy, observed positive impacts, the experienced as well as expected usefulness of the PROSNOW® demonstrator for different areas of application within the ski resort, and the ski resort’s willingness to pay (WTP). For the latter, both direct and indirect stated preference methods (e.g. limit conjoint analysis) were applied.</p><p>Both, simulations and survey results revealed that increases in the ability to anticipate weather and snow conditions bear significant saving potentials for some ski resorts. Areas of application for which PROSNOW® is considered particularly useful include snowmaking decisions for the upcoming hours and days, the optimization of water and energy use and avoidance of snow overproduction. Even though some pilot ski resorts experienced problems with the demonstrator, the majority indicated to be willing to pay a non-zero price for the service, ranging from 2,500€ to 12,700€ per season.</p>

Can inbound medical tourism boost Malaysia’s economic growth?

2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 505-513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chor Foon Tang ◽  
Ahmad Sofwan Nathan Abdullah
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Medical Tourism ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Decomposition Analysis ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Variance Decomposition Analysis ◽  
The Impact

Medical tourism is an extensively researched sub-sector of the tourism industry because of its acknowledged role as an important catalyst for economic growth. Nevertheless, the impact of medical tourism on economic growth remains contentious due to associated negative externalities. This paper assesses medical tourism’s role in Malaysia’s long-term economic growth using a neoclassical growth model as its framework and a set of time series econometric approaches, namely cointegration, Granger causality and variance decomposition analysis as core instruments. The results indicate that medical tourism has significant positive impact on Malaysia’s economic growth in the long run.

scholarly journals The Influence of Consumer Affinity on Revisit Intention over time——A Case Study Chinese Tourists’ Perception of Thailand

2021 ◽  
Vol 251 ◽  
pp. 01012
Author(s):  
Yan-ping Shi
Keyword(s):  
Influence Factor ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Revisit Intention ◽  
Relationship Model ◽  
Chinese Tourists ◽  
Cultural Affinity ◽  
Questionnaire Method

Revisiting tourists can bring great benefits to the tourism industry, which has attracted the attention of scholars, but few scholars have studied the consumer affinity as the influence factor of the revisit intention. This study constructs the relationship model between consumer affinity and revisit intention, and uses questionnaire method to collect data and apply multi-layer regression analysis to process data. The study found that cultural affinity and people affinity have a significant positive impact on short-term revisit intention, cultural affinity has a significant positive impact on mid-term revisit intention, landscape affinity and people affinity have a significant positive impact on long-term re-visiting intentions. The conclusion of this paper has some practical guiding significance for outbound tourism propaganda, and some practical guiding significance for Thailand, to improve the trip of Chinese tourists.

Process-based simulation of snow cover evolution in ski resorts using the AMUNDSEN model: results and validation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Florian Hanzer ◽  
Daniel Günther ◽  
Ulrich Strasser ◽  
Valentina Premier ◽  
Mattia Callegari ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Snow Cover ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Physical Factors ◽  
Ambient Conditions ◽  
Future Evolution ◽  
Ski Resort ◽  
Ski Resorts ◽  
Temperature And Humidity ◽  
Meteorological Observations ◽  
Snow Model

<p>Snow management, i.e., snowmaking and grooming, is an integral part of modern ski resort operation. While the current snow cover distribution on the slopes is often well known thanks to the usage of advanced monitoring techniques, estimates about its future evolution are usually lacking. Management-enabled numerical snowpack models driven by meteorological forecasts can help to fill this gap. In the frame of the H2020 project PROSNOW such software tools are developed to be run on an operational basis with the aim to optimize snow management as well as the use of water and energy resources. As part of PROSNOW, model simulations for the ski resorts Seefeld and Obergurgl (both Austria) as well as Colfosco and San Vigilio (both Italy) are performed with the physically based snow model AMUNDSEN. In its particular snow management module, both socioeconomic and physical factors are considered, the former concerning the decision when, where and how much snow should be produced, and the latter considering the snowmaking conditions, i.e., how much snow can be produced in the current ambient conditions (in terms of temperature and humidity) and the given ski resort infrastructure (number and efficiency of snow guns, water availability, etc.).</p><p>In our contribution we show the implementation of snowmaking and grooming practices in the AMUNDSEN model, its adaptation to individual ski resorts, and how different potential snow management strategies are accounted for. Model results obtained using historical meteorological observations and hindcast simulations are validated against observations from numerous data sources such as Sentinel-2 snow cover maps, distributed snow depth measurements from groomers, temperature and humidity measurements from snow guns as well as water consumption recordings.</p>

Assessing the competitiveness of the resort area

2020 ◽  
Vol 18 (7) ◽  
pp. 1216-1231
Author(s):  
K.A. Nefedova ◽  
D.O. Maslakova
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Competitive Ability ◽  
Effective Management ◽  
Development Indicators ◽  
Ski Resort ◽  
Ski Resorts ◽  
Ranking Score ◽  
Comprehensive Development ◽  
Differential Methods

Subject. This article discusses the issues of development of the Krasnaya Polyana resort area. Objectives. The article aims to assess the competitive ability and attractiveness of this resort area through developing indicators. Methods. For the study, we used a comparative analysis, and factor and ranking score techniques. Results. The article offers original methods to assess the competitiveness of the ski resort area and describes possible directions to increase and improve the competitiveness and attractiveness of ski resorts. Conclusions. Comprehensive development indicators help assess the competitive ability of the ski resort area. Modified expert, sociological, rating, and differential methods contribute to the effective management of the resort area's advantages.

Lost Glory

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumit K. Majumdar
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Positive Outcomes ◽  
State Sector ◽  
Definitive Evidence ◽  
Industrial Landscape ◽  
Intellectual Origins ◽  
Automobile Manufacturer ◽  
High Output

Lost Glory: India’s Capitalism Story describes India’s industrialization experiences. Questions about long-term industry and productivity evolution, and their impact on economic growth, lie at the heart of discourses of capitalism. The book is based on detailed empirical analyses of India’s industrialization over a period of almost seven decades, and a case study of Maruti Suzuki, India’s largest automobile manufacturer. The deeply nuanced depiction of the historical political economy that has affected India’s industrialization is a unique feature. This history will enlighten everyone interested in India. The presentation takes readers on a definitive evidence-based survey of India’s industrial landscape. It includes a detailed historical description of the intellectual origins of India’s modern industrialization, anchored in a privileged view of economic policymaking. Grounded in historical and political analyses, the facts derived on India’s long-term economic performance are used to set the record straight. It is unsparing in its assessments where the evidence warrants such conclusions. Its findings will transform debate, and set the agenda for thoughtfully assessing the future course of India’s prosperity. The author overturns the assumptions that India’s much-vaunted private sector firms only engender positive outcomes, finding State-sector firms to have become efficient, and the molecular sector to be as effective overall, while also challenging the notion that privatization is necessary for progress. Conversely, it is found that competition policy innovations to have had positive impact. Practical suggestions are provided and three fundamental reforms, one administrative, one structural, and one behavioral, necessary to regenerate high output, are advocated.

How tourism industry agglomeration improves tourism economic efficiency?

2021 ◽  
pp. 135481662110091
Author(s):  
Zhoufei Li ◽  
Huiyue Liu
Keyword(s):  
Positive Impact ◽  
Regional Analysis ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Scale Efficiency ◽  
Eastern Region ◽  
Location Quotient ◽  
Industry Agglomeration ◽  
Central Regions ◽  
National Perspective ◽  
The Impact

The agglomeration of the tourism industry has important effects on its efficiency. This article used panel data on the Chinese provincial tourism industry for the 2011–2016 period, applied the location quotient index and three-stage data envelopment analysis method to, respectively, measure the degree of agglomeration and efficiency, and explained the impact of agglomeration on tourism efficiency. The empirical results of this study indicate the following. (1) China’s tourism industry shows a trend towards agglomeration, revealing gradient differences where the highest degree of agglomeration is in the eastern region, followed by the western and central regions. (2) After eliminating random and environmental factors, the adjusted efficiencies are lower than the unadjusted efficiencies. The average overall tourism efficiency is higher in the eastern region than in the central and western regions. (3) From the national perspective, industrial agglomeration can significantly improve the overall efficiency (TE), pure technical efficiency (PTE), and scale efficiency of the tourism industry. (4) Based on regional analysis, the agglomeration of the eastern tourism industry can significantly enhance its TE and PTE. Agglomeration for the western area has a significant positive impact on PTE. There is no significant relationship between agglomeration and efficiency in the central region.

scholarly journals Techno-Economic Planning and Operation of the Microgrid Considering Real-Time Pricing Demand Response Program

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4597
Author(s):  
Zi-Xuan Yu ◽  
Meng-Shi Li ◽  
Yi-Peng Xu ◽  
Sheraz Aslam ◽  
Yuan-Kang Li
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Demand Response ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Environmental Aspects ◽  
Component Size ◽  
Cost Of Energy ◽  
Four Seasons ◽  
Demand Response Program ◽  
Real Time Pricing

The optimal planning of grid-connected microgrids (MGs) has been extensively studied in recent years. While most of the previous studies have used fixed or time-of-use (TOU) prices for the optimal sizing of MGs, this work introduces real-time pricing (RTP) for implementing a demand response (DR) program according to the national grid prices of Iran. In addition to the long-term planning of MG, the day-ahead operation of MG is also analyzed to get a better understanding of the DR program for daily electricity dispatch. For this purpose, four different days corresponding to the four seasons are selected for further analysis. In addition, various impacts of the proposed DR program on the MG planning results, including sizing and best configuration, net present cost (NPC) and cost of energy (COE), and emission generation by the utility grid, are investigated. The optimization results show that the implementation of the DR program has a positive impact on the technical, economic, and environmental aspects of MG. The NPC and COE are reduced by about USD 3700 and USD 0.0025/kWh, respectively. The component size is also reduced, resulting in a reduction in the initial cost. Carbon emissions are also reduced by 185 kg/year.

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