Title: Impacts of Tourism on the Environment.
1Impacts of Tourism on the Environment.
2Introduction
The Presentation
1. Physical environment - Key features 2.
Physical environment - Climate 3. Human
environment - The traditional town 4. Human
Environment - The new town 5. The impacts of
tourism on the environment 6. The impacts of
tourism continued .
3Location and Background Details
Serre Chevalier is a ski resort situated in the
Guisanne Valley. Briancon is its nearest major
settlement and it located on the bottom of the
valley at its confluence with the River Durance
and several others.
4Aim
The aim of this presentation is to show the
impacts of tourism of the physical environment.
Concentrating mainly on the impacts of skiing.
5Physical Environment
The resort of Serre Chavalieris named after one
of the major mountains of the area, which is
2491m at its peak.
- Key features
- Aspect e.g North/south facing slopes
- Gradient e.g relief of land
- Erosion e.g Glacial erosion and glacial
processes
6Physical Environment
The climate the area experiences is cold, wet
(snowy) winters and warm, dry summers. The Serre
Chevalier valley therefore is subject to flash
flooding, particularly due to heavy rainfall
combined with the snow melt.
The numerous alluvial fans of the area are
created by the effects of flash floods. These
provide flat fertile land particularly good for
pastoral farming which was the prominent economy
of the area.
7Human Environment
The term Le Grande Serre Chevalier refers to
the whole ski resort. This major resort area
includes three villages Le Salle, Villeneuve and
Le Bez. Which all pre-date the modern ski
development
The villages of this area are mainly distributed
on the north facing slope of the Guisanne valley.
With the traditional style of housing being
Alpine. These villages are often small in size
with a church as the nucleus. .
8Human Environment
In terms of tourism the region has seen change
from a traditional mountain farming economy to a
popular ski resort in winter and due to many
summer activities, the area is active right
through the year.
- The impacts of the ski industry are immense on
the Human environment. The types of human
activity that operate in this area are - Fishing Camping
- Mountain biking Skiing
- Snow boarding Rock climbing
9Impacts of Tourism on the Physical Environment
- Tourism has caused many impacts on the Physical
Environment - Cultivation
- Erosion
- Deforestation
- Infrastructure
10Impacts of Tourism on the Physical Environment
- Areas of land on the relatively flat valley
bottom which were between the original village
settlements have been infilled with ski related
services to supply the high demand of the
tourists. - Apartments Apres ski (discos,
restaurant's,bars) - chalets Ski runs
- Souvenir Shops Car parks
- Ski lifts
- Hotels
11Conclusion
- After studying the Serre Chevalier valley we have
found that impacts of tourism have greatly
effected the physical environment not only
physically but also visually, with major problems
being linked to - The expansion of the hotels
- Increasing popularity of the resort
- The extension of the resort season
- The improvement in accessibility of the resort
- These problems bring major concern for the
nature of the physical environment. What was
once an unspoilt natural feature is now a booming
holiday resort! - Is this what we want for our future generations?
12Reference List
- The Virtual Montana web site.
- French Alps Serre Chevalier Packs 1 2.
- Fieldwork Booklets.