ABSTRACT
Today tourist activities tend to incorporate the principles of sustainability so as to mitigate the detrimental effects they might have on the environment, and as a response to demands from society at large and environmental groups. In turn, these demands serve to justify the interven tion of the public authorities. The tourist sectors undergoing such changes include, among others, tourism in national parks and agro-tourism, where the aptness of this new model of tourism is being borne out by experience. Proposals have also been made to incorporate the principles of sustainability to what is known in continental Europe as ‘snow tourism’ (tourisme de niege) in which the viability of ski resorts is postulated within a model of sustainable development of mountain areas. This article seeks to clarify the underlying reasoning for and to determine the reach of such thinking.
