Alpine destination life cycles: Challenges and implications

The growth of Alpine tourism and the development of many mountain destina-tions have a long history. The beginning of the alpine summer tourism dates back to the 1830ies and 1840ies (Brusatti 1984) and was at first predominantly shaped by scientific interest in nature (Weiermair 2004). A further reason for travelling the Alps emerged in the pursuit of alpinism to fulfil sporty ambitions: at the be-ginning of the 19th century most first ascents of the alpine summits had already taken place. With the improvement of the alpine infrastructure and the ongoing development of the alpine sports equipment, mountaineering expanded from a niche sport to a common tourist occupation (Spode 1987). Consequently, clubs and associations were founded (like for example 1862 the Austrian Alpine Asso-ciation and 1869 the German Alpine Association), which continued to pursue their objective to open up and develop the Alps by establishing trekking ways, moun-tain paths and basic accommodation for mountain climbers and hikers (Forcher 1984). Already in 1869, statistics documented the first hut hosting 60 visitors, developing rapidly to 39 huts with 5.376 visitors in 1880, 110 huts with 29.775 visi-tors in 1890, 172 huts with 104.799 visitors in 1900 and 232 huts with 232.176 visitors in 1907 (Brusatti 1984).