Alps making the most of climate change

updated 5:32 p.m. ET Nov. 11, 2007

INNSBRUCK, Austria - Climate change in the Alps may not be all bad.

For many Alpine ski resorts, the prospect of sparse snowfall in a warming world could be a chance to spice up their selling points and come up with new, creative ways to entice tourists.

Think of it as a mountain makeover with an educational edge.

Experts say the challenge is finding new ways for regions that now rely heavily on ski tourism to survive without the white stuff — in part by doing more to attract people to the peaks year-round.

"The reality is that skiing is not going to be a reliable source of income for many areas," said Martin Price, director of the Centre for Mountain Studies at Perth College in Britain.

"Especially at the lower altitudes, it's definitely not an industry I would invest in," he said.

Tourism activities in the Alps generate about $71 billion in annual turnover and provide up to 12 percent of all jobs in the region, according to a recent report by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The report, released late last year, said recent warming in the Alps has been roughly three times the global average and that climate model projections show even greater changes in the coming decades, with less snow at low altitudes, receding glaciers and melting permafrost higher up. The findings were featured during a recent conference in Innsbruck on the future of the Alps.

For weather-weary ski resort operators, there's currently the option of using man-made snow on the slopes, a practice that gained ground in Europe in the 1980s.

But while it helps extend ski seasons and maintain slopes, it requires large amounts of water, costs a lot and doesn't work well in warmer conditions.

Robert Steiger of the University of Innsbruck's Institute of Geography says snowmaking is a suitable strategy for now, but likely will have to be used more intensively in years to come.

That could become very expensive, especially for smaller resorts.

In Austria, million $181.5 million was invested in snowmaking equipment for the 2007-08 winter season alone, the Chamber of Commerce said. For next year, that figure is expected to increase to $427.8 million. If needed, nearly 60 percent of Austria's slopes can be covered in artificial snow.

In Switzerland, covering a single kilometer (about a half-mile) of slope with man-made snow requires an investment of roughly $857,730, according to Hans Elsasser, professor of geography at the University of Zurich.

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Steiger says it's time to consider whether that cash could be better spent elsewhere.

"The problem right now is that ideas are lacking about how to motivate more people to come up the mountains in the summer," he said.

Austria's cable car industry could be particularly hard-hit. The cars, which hoist skiers, snowboarders and sightseers to mountain summits, now make 93 percent of their total turnover in winter.

"From a purely economic perspective, in the medium term there is no alternative to winter sports from our point of view," said Erik Wolf, CEO of the Professional Association of Austrian Cable Cars.

Although more people vacation in Austria in summer — 16 million did last year — winter is a big draw. Last year's season brought in 14 million people, and most of those hit the slopes, say tourism officials.

Among the suggested alternatives: promoting medical stays in the mountains — a practice that was common in centuries past.

Wolfgang Schobersberger of the UMIT-Institute for Leisure, Travel and Alpine Medicine in Hall, Tyrol, thinks the Alps could provide much-needed relief for people prone to allergies and similar ailments.

"Roughly calculated, that amounts to about 100 million Europeans who could have guest potential," Schobersberger said, adding that the mountains also could become a refuge for healthy people seeking to escape sizzling summers.

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