Ice on the Land- Chamonix

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Background and Attractions

Background:

- Eastern France, near the border of Italy and Switzerland.

- Around 5 million visitors per year.

Attractions:

- Home to Mer de Glace (longest glacier in France).

- Winter attractions, such as: Skiing, snowboarding, dog sledding, ice climbing etc.

-Summer attractions, such as: Hiking, mountain biking, kayaking, mountaineering etc.

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Impacts of Tourism

Economic:

- Lots of jobs created: 2500 seasonal workers per year.

- Companies make lots of money: Compagnie du Mont Blanc has a turnover of 50 m euros from running ski lifts.

Social:

- Change in the area's jobs, from farm labour to catering.

- Develpoments increase the avalanche risk, leading to deaths: 2017 Italian avalanche killed 29.

Environmental:

- More traffic, meaning more pollution: In 2002-2004 traffic pollution was worse than Paris.

- Lots of energy used to run facilities, this increses CO2 and therefore global warming.

- Visual pollution, developments ruin the natural beauty of the region.

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Management

Strategies:

- System of avalanche barriers, such as the one at Taconnaz.

- Avalanche awareness courses and daily bulletins.

- Free public transport, using low emission buses.

- Hotels installing solar panels to heat water, and lights which turn off automatically, in order to reduce their energy use and therefore their CO2 emissions.

- Investing money into renovating footpaths and historic buildings.

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