Navigation – Plan du site

AccueilDossiers114-1Tourism and Degrowth: A Literatur...

Tourism and Degrowth: A Literature Review to Establish a Research Agenda for Mountain Regions

Clémence Perrin-Malterre
Cet article est une traduction de :
Tourisme et décroissance : une revue de littérature pour établir des pistes de recherche pour les territoires de montagne [fr]

Résumé

Degrowth in the tourism sector is a recent field of study. And for the moment, little research has focused on degrowth in tourism in mountain areas. This article conducts a systematic literature review on this topic, considering both publications with a conceptual approach and empirical studies carried out on different types of destinations (urban, coastal, island, rural, etc.) in order to identify avenues for research in mountain areas. The results show that the number of publications has increased significantly since 2019. These publications draw on various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, which can be explained by the multidisciplinary nature of the subject of tourism. After detailing the conceptual approaches, the analysis focused on empirical studies. It appears that mountain destinations are studied in 17% of publications, which mainly deal with European destinations. The scale of analysis is mainly local and the methods used are essentially qualitative. The Structural Topic Model was used to highlight five themes (overtourism and social movements, degrowth management and planning, community tourism, the role of entrepreneurs and resource dependency). The results of the studies referring to each of these themes were detailed. Subsequently, the application of the results of these case studies to mountain areas made it possible to establish a research agenda, focusing on the notion of trail dependency, the implementation of transport decarbonisation policies, the effectiveness of visitor management measures and rebound effects, and a comparative analysis of protest movements around tourism developments.

Haut de page

Texte intégral

Introduction

1Initially formulated as a critique of productivist and growth-oriented society (Latouche, 2006; Kallis, 2011), the concept of degrowth has gained prominence since the 2000s as a framework for political, economic and ethical reflection. It questions the ecological and social limits of development based on material accumulation. Degrowth does not simply refer to a reduction in gross domestic product, but rather to a deliberate transition towards sober, equitable and sustainable societies that prioritise quality of life, the relocalisation of activities and the redefinition of needs (Latouche, 2024). However, this paradigm remains controversial due to its conceptual ambiguities and the challenges of implementing it across different territorial scales (Asara et al., 2015). In the field of tourism, degrowth thinking is more recent, emerging in the late 2000s with early works linking critiques of growth and tourism studies (Bourdeau and Berthelot, 2008; Fletcher, 2011; Hall, 2009; Higgins-Desbiolles, 2010). Since then, several authors have further developed this perspective, proposing the concepts of ‘tourism degrowth’ and ‘post-growth tourism.’ This research critiques a tourism development model dominated by the logic of continuous growth in visitor flows, supply, and infrastructure (Fletcher et al., 2019). Tourism degrowth thus aims to voluntarily reduce the ecological and social footprint of tourism activities, rethink visitor numbers and mobility, and promote sustainable, equitable and localised forms of tourism (Hall, 2022). This approach challenges the dominant paradigm of ‘sustainable tourism’, which remains tied to economic expansion, and calls for a fundamental change in the socio-economic regime of the sector (Büscher and Fletcher, 2017).

  • 1 In the context of regional economies, path dependence is understood as a regional economic speciali (...)

2Mountain tourism is an ideal case study in which to examine the transition away from a development model based centered on winter sports resorts and a snow-based economy, both of which are particularly vulnerable to climate change (Steiger et al., 2024). Climate change only exacerbates an existing crisis driven by structural factors: competition between destinations, the divide between small and large resorts, the ageing of the tourist population, new trends in recreational practices, etc. (Bourdeau, 2021). In response, most resorts have adopted adaptation strategies such as artificial snowmaking, raising ski areas altitude, merging resorts or extending the tourist season (Pickering and Buckley, 2010). These strategies reveal a strong path dependence1 on winter sports in mountain areas (Berard-Chenu and François, 2025; Hatt and Claeys, 2024; Vlès, 2021).

3To date, few studies has focused on the potential decline of tourism in mountain areas. The aim of this article is to understand how the scientific literature addresses the concept of degrowth as applied to tourism and to identify avenues for research for application to mountain areas. To do this, we conducted a systematic review of the literature using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses – Moher et al., 2009) approach, which ensures the rigor and reproducibility of the publication selection and analysis process. The first section details the methodology of the systematic review; the second and third sections present the results of the literature analysis; and the final section discuses research perspectives and implications for mountain tourism.

Implementation of the Systematic Literature

4Our research focused on scientific publications in French and English using the keywords: ‘tourism’ and ‘degrowth’ or “Tourism” and ‘Degrowth’ in Google Scholar, Taylor&Francis and ScienceDirect. Both keywords were required to appear in the title, abstract, or keywords of each publication.

5The inclusion criteria were: (a) peer-reviewed publications that explicitly addressed the intersection of tourism and degrowth, (b) documents published up to January 2025, and (c) articles in French and English. Publications that did not meet these criteria – particularly those focusing solely on tourism without any connection to degrowth – were excluded. We also excluded conference proceedings, master’s theses, and doctoral dissertations, retaining only articles from scientific journals and book chapters published by academic publishers such as Routledge and CABI. The search was concluded when results became repetitive or irrelevant.

6During the initial sceening, titles and abstracts were read to ensure that the study met the inclusion criteria. The selection process involved a more detailed examination, primarily focusing on the introductions and conclusions of the articles and chapters. Finally the full texts were assessed for eligibility, and those deemed irrelevant were excluded (Figure 1). These included articles that only mentioned degrowth in the discussion or conclusion, as a solution to overtourism, which was ultimately the focus of the article. We finally selected 66 articles and chapters, all in English, as no French-language publications met the criteria. However, some French-language sources were referenced in the discussion section.

Figure 1: PRISMA flow diagram

Figure 1: PRISMA flow diagram

7The selected articles were then entered into a new thematic database, structured as follows: 1) bibliographic information, including the year of publication, title, author(s), type of publication (article or book chapter) and name of the journal or book; 2) approach type (conceptual or empirical); 3) disciplines and concepts addressed; and more specifically for empirical studies 4) geographical details (continent, country and locality), destination type (island, coastal, mountainous, urban) and scale of analysis (individual, local, regional, national); 5) methods used, data type and analyses conducted.

8To analyze the corpus, we performed a lexicometric analysis (using Iramuteq software) to identify the most frequently used terms related to degrowth in the tourism sector. For empirical articles, we applied a Structural Topic Model to determine the recurring themes in the case studies.

Résults

From 2009 to the present: the rise of research on degrowth applied to tourism

9Of the 66 publications selected, 31 adopt a conceptual approach while 35 are empirical. Figure 2 shows the annual evolution of publications on this topic. The first publication identified, by Michael Hall, entitled ‘Degrowing tourism’, dates from 2009. During the first decade, (2009–2019), only five publications were identified. However, 2019 and 2020 marked a significant increase, with the highest number of publications to date. This surge can be attributed to two key contributions: The 2019 special issue of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism coordinated by Fletcher, Murray Mas, Blanco-Romero and Blázquez-Salom, which includes 11 articles, and, the 2020 edited volume Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, coordinated by Hall, Lundmark and Zhang, which includes 13 chapters.

Figure 2: Annual number of publications combining the terms ‘Tourism’ and ‘Degrowth’

Figure 2: Annual number of publications combining the terms ‘Tourism’ and ‘Degrowth’

10The selected publications span a diverse range of disciplines (Figure 3), including geography, law, economics, and sociology. Some collective works integrate multiple social science perspectives, reflecting the inherently multidisciplinary nature of tourism studies.

Figure 3: Disciplinary distribution of publications

Figure 3: Disciplinary distribution of publications

11The lexicometric analysis (Figure 4) reveals the most frequently used terms in the corpus. Alongside the concepts of tourism and degrowth, the three pillars of sustainable development - ‘economic’, “social” and ‘environmental’- are prominently features. The articles therefore question the ‘sustainable’ nature of tourism. ‘Local’ and ‘community’ scales are more frequently mentioned than the ‘global’ scale, while ‘well-being’ emerges as a central theme.

Figure 4: Word cloud of the most frequently used terms in publications

Figure 4: Word cloud of the most frequently used terms in publications

Degrowth in tourism: conceptual origins, critique of dominant models, and social and environmental justice issues

12In the early publications on degrowth in tourism, Hall (2009; 2010) proposes a reconceptualization of sustainable tourism from an economic ecology perspective. Rather than pursuing quantitative growth in tourism, which has an impact on the environment and does not necessarily enhance quality of life, Hall advocates for qualitative development. In these foundational works, it is not the term degrowth that is emphasised, but rather steady-state tourism, drawing on Daly’s (2008) steady-state economy framework, which distinguishes between growth and development. Similarly, degrowth is not at the heart of the work of Hollenhorst et al. (2014), do not explicitly focus on degrowth but instead promote a locavist approach to tourism. They argue for replacing long-haul, carbon-intensive travel with models that prioritize local destinations, low-emission transport, and investment in local communities.

13It was not until 2019 that publications began to explicitly address degrowth in tourism (Blázquez-Salom et al., 2024; Dwyer, 2023; Lundmark et al., 2020; Murray et al., 2023; Sharpley, 2020). Degrowth is framed as essential in the context of the climate crisis, the transgression of planetary boundaries, and the growing evidence linking economic growth to environmental degradation (Windegger, 2024). It is also presented as a necessary response to overtourism (Fontanari et al., 2021; Fletcher et al., 2019; Perkumienė and Pranskūnienė, 2019).

14The Covid-19 pandemic further stimulated reflection on degrowth in tourism (Cheer et al., 2021; Seyfi and Hall, 2020). The aim is to develop tourism that is described as responsible (Lundmark et al., 2020) or sustainable (Saarinen, 2020), particularly in the cruise tourism sector (Renaud, 2020), and to promote domestic tourism (Ballantine, 2020). However, Higgins-Desbiolles (2023) notes that at this time, industry stakeholders and tourists themselves are expecting a return to normal, even anticipating a ‘revenge tourism’ (p. 3098). She advocates for public policies that prioritize local tourism circuits as part of a ‘climate-just mobility’ framework (p. 3097).

15This application of the concept of degrowth in tourism is rooted in a post-capitalist critique. Fletcher et al. (2019; 2023) and Boluk et al. (2019) argue that the growth imperative is inherent to capitalism and that post-capitalist practices are necessary for truly sustainable tourism. Butcher (2023; 2024) however, challenges this perspective, asserting that economic growth – in tourism and more broadly – remains essential for addressing societal challenges, such as poverty. In response, Higgins-Desbiolles and Everingham (2022) clarify that degrowth is not merely about reduction but about dismantling destructive processes while expanding activities that enhance social and environmental well-being. For them, degrowth advocates for a more equitable gloaal distribution of wealth.

16Thus, social justice and equity are central in the principle of degrowth. Blanco-Romero et al. (2025) argue that strategies aimed at reducing tourist numbers through upscaling, ostensibly to foster ‘quality tourism’, do not align with degrowth principles. Instead, such approaches often perpetuate elitism without addressing the structural excesses of the tourism industry. Several authors (Boluk et al., 2020; Gascón, 2019; Higgins-Desbiolles et al., 2019) propose prioritizing the rights of local communities and residents over those of tourists and tourism businesses, aiming to enhance residents’ well-being (Dwyer, 2024). Rather than framing this as ‘well-being’, Everingham and Chassagne (2020) refer to the South American concept of ‘Buen Vivir’, which reorients priorities toward social and environmental flourishing and the cultivation of human connections. This decolonial approach to degrowth can be applied to tourism to promote local, slow-paced travel. Some destinations have adopting demarketing strategies, defined as deliberate efforts to discourage certain categories of customers, either temporarily or permanently (Kotler and Levy, 1971). However, Hall and Wood (2021) caution that such strategies do not inherently constitute degrowth, as they may merely displace tourist flows in space and time without reducing the overall environmental and social impact of tourism.

17In summary the degrowth approach extends beyond critiques of mass tourism or tourism capitalism. It challenges the growth imperative at the core of dominant economic models. While sustainable, ethical, or responsible tourism often seeks to mitigate negative impacts without questioning growth (e.g., through carbon offsetting), degrowth fundamentally questions the compatibility of economic growth and sustainability. It distinguishes itself by integrating a post-capitalist dimension, where social and environmental justice is not an afterthought but a primary objective. The following section examines how this conceptual framework is operationalized in empirical studies.

From theory to practice: empirical studies on degrowth in tourism

Empirical studies: location, destination type, scale of analysis and methodology

18Analysis of destination type (Figure 6) reveals that rural areas are the most frequently studied in empirical research (42%), as these destinations often experience forms of degrowth. Coastal and island destinations account for 25% of publications, while mountain destinations are examined in 17% of studies. Similar to research on overtourism (Wasudawan and Weissmann, 2025), the majority of case studies focus on European destinations (71%), with Spain being the most studied country on the continent (32% of European cases). Notably, no studies address Africa or North America, and only 14% of publications focus on urban destinations, despite overtourism being primarily framed as an urban issue (Back et al., 2025).

Figure 5: Distribution of destination types and continents

Figure 5: Distribution of destination types and continents

19The scale of analysis (Figure 7) is predominantly local, followed by regional, as most publications focus on specific tourist destinations. Some studies adopt an individual scale, examining entrepreneurs or tourists, while others use an organizational scale, analyzing companies within a particular sector. In alignment with these scales, the methodologies employed in case studies are primarily qualitative, relying heavily on interviews, though they are often complemented by content analysis of documents from diverse sources.

Figure 6: Scales of analysis and methodologies used

Figure 6: Scales of analysis and methodologies used

Key Themes in the Literature

20The Structural Topic Model highlights five themes in the publications (Figure 8):

  • tourism management and planning with a focus on the role of degrowth, particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic;

  • destinations confronting climate change, including strategies to reduce carbon and environmental impacts;

  • community-based tourism;

  • destinations facing overtourism and the emergence of associated social movements;

21- the role of entrepreneurs and tourism stakeholders in a degrowth perspective.

Figure 7: Key themes and terms exclusive to each

Figure 7: Key themes and terms exclusive to each

Overtourism and social movements

22Case studies in Turkey (Çakar and Uzut, 2020; Taş Gürsoy, 2020) demonstrate that implementing degrowth policies at the local level can help mitigate overtourism. Valdivielso and Moranta (2019) argue that the debate on tourism degrowth extends beyond divergent approaches to managing overtourism and gentrification. It also reflects broader struggles that have catalyzed the emergence of social movements within civil society. These dynamics have been analyzed in Spain, particularly in Barcelona (Milano et al., 2019) and the Costa del Sol (Navarro-Jurado et al., 2019). While activists do not reject tourism outright, they advocate for greater regulation of its impacts, especially on local residents’ quality of life. Conflicts and opposition movements have also arisen in response to tourist infrastructure projects, whether in island contexts such as Bali (Adityanandana & Gerber, 2019) or in mountain regions like the Austrian Alps (Wegerer and Nadegger, 2023). In the latter case, activists do not target specific projects but rather criticize the broader growth imperative embedded in capitalism, positioning their movement within a degrowth framework. Unlike earlier studies, which focused on localized, reactive protests aimed at adapting the existing tourism model—such as those in the Hautes-Pyrénées (Clarimont and Vlès, 2016)—the degrowth approach introduces a political and systemic dimension, advocating for structural transformation of the tourism industry.

Management and planning the place of degrowth

23Beyond overtourism, the Covid-19 pandemic provided an opportunity for tourism stakeholders to reconsider degrowth, whether in rural or urban destinations. The crisis enabled stakeholders to test their adaptability and develop new skills, while also promoting local tourism (Díaz Soria et al., 2023). However, Langer and Schmude (2024) and Panzer-Krause (2022) note that tourism remains growth-oriented because it is often the predominant economic sector in a given area, particularly in rural areas (Carson and Carson, 2020; Muler González and Galí Espelt, 2021). Additionally, public actors often face significant challenges in implementing degrowth policies due to internal and external economic pressures (Amore and Adie, 2020). Furthermore, according to Canavan (2014), degrowth can have unintended negative consequences, such as job losses or reduced social diversity, without necessarily enhancing well-being. Consequently, restrictive measures to limit growth are often deemed unrealistic by tourism businesses (Kielar & Scuttari, 2024). For example, workshops organized for tourism stakeholders and elected officials in seven Dutch cities aimed to develop more sustainable tourism strategies, but they failed to challenge the prevailing neoliberal paradigm (Nieuwland, 2024). Ultimately, the tourism industry remains rooted in a model of capital accumulation (Blázquez-Salom et al., 2019), which is inherently unequal as it benefits only a select few while being sustained by those in power (Kulusjärvi, 2020). Thus, publications that emphasize ways of maintaining tourism GPD levels by offsetting reduced tourist arrivals with increased per-visitor spending (Sard & Valle, 2024) do not align with degrowth principles. Such approaches overlook social justice and equity, which are central to the degrowth framework.

Community-based tourism as a lever for social justice

24Conceptual publications have also highlighted the rights of local communities through the development of community-based tourism that could benefit local populations. Cañada (2021), Chassagne and Everingham (2019), Renkert (2019) and Ruiz-Ballesteros (2020) examine Latin American communities that have developed rural tourism projects tailored to their needs and objectives. A key goal is to distribute income equitably across households, avoiding the concentration of employment within a few families. These initiatives also challenge the Eurocentric development model, which is often based on extractivism. While most case studies focus on the Global South, Saville (2022) focuses on Svalbard in Norway. In this destination, tourism has replaced coal mining as the primary economic sector. For this author, the concept of degrowth appears promising for reorienting tourism to better serve local communities.

Tourism entrepreneurs and degrowth: individual commitments in the face of structural limitations

25The issue of degrowth is also examined at the individual level, particularly among entrepreneurs. For these entrepreneurs (Margaryan et al., 2020; Ruiz-Ballesteros and González-Portillo, 2024), quality of life appears to take priority over growth and profit maximization. However, while some of their actions align with degrowth principles, they are not part of a broader degrowth strategy (Falter, 2024) and do not necessarily identify with alternative or anti-growth positions (Cederholm and Sjöholm, 2020). Lundmark et al. (2024) highlight a paradox among nature-based tourism entrepreneurs: although they adopt environmentally friendly practices, they remain heavily dependent on air transport for their clients. Panzer-Krause (2019) focused on a regional network of tourism businesses in rural Ireland. He shows that entrepreneurs advocating for degrowth lack the influence to shift the growth-oriented mindset, even when framed as "green", of well-established businesses. Consequently, no significant deviation from business-as-usual practices has been observed.

Climate change and degrowth in tourism: resource dependence and individual resistance

26The final theme focuses on destinations confronting the impacts of climate change and the solutions aimed at reducing tourism’s carbon footprint and environmental harm. These destinations rely on natural resources threatened by climate change, such as snow for winter sports resorts (Demiroglu and Turhan, 2020) and the Great Barrier Reef in Australia (Prideaux and Pabel, 2020). The authors note that path dependence makes it difficult to integrate these destinations into degrowth strategies. Two studies focus on activities with significant environmental impacts and contribution to climate change, such as the water sports sector (Marušić et al., 2024) and sporting events in natural environments (Eriksson and Balslev Clausen, 2024). In the latter case, participants are unwilling to self-impose restrictions on their activities and tend to shift responsibility for mitigating environmental impacts onto event organizers. From a broader perspective, Pinto et al. (2025) conducted a questionnaire-based survey of tourists in Brazil to study their relationship with degrowth. The authors show that this concept remains largely unknown. The group least inclined to adopt sustainable behaviors and most resistant to degrowth principles is predominantly composed of individuals under the age of 40.

27In summary, empirical studies show that the concept of degrowth can highlight the social tensions exacerbated by overtourism. However, most research underscores the challenges of implementing degrowth in practice. While the COVID-19 pandemic provided an opportunity to rethink tourism, the sector remains deeply rooted in growth-oriented logic. Community-based tourism, often presented as a lever for social justice, remains a model that is difficult to transpose in contexts where a neoliberal vision of development prevails. At the individual level, tourism entrepreneurs, although sometimes aligned with degrowth values, face structural economic constraints that limit their capacity for action. Meanwhile, tourists remain largely unaware of degrowth, raising questions about the feasibility of profound behavioral change. Ultimately, the contribution of degrowth to tourism analysis lies in its ability to expose the sector’s inherent contradictions: the tension between local aspirations and global logic, and between individual commitments and systemic constraints. While degrowth offers a critical theoretical framework for reimagining tourism, its practical application faces significant obstacles.

Tourism and degrowth: application to mountain areas and agenda of research

28Results show that few publications (6 out of 35) focus on the degrowth of tourism in mountain areas. Demiroğlu and Turhan (2020) point out that mountain resorts suffer from a path dependency on the winter sports industry, which can hinder the implementation of degrowth strategies. However, the experience of Australia and coastal tourism where the appeal is largely based on the presence of the Great Barrier Reef (Prideaux and Pabel, 2020), demonstrates that diversification or transition strategies aimed at degrowth must be initiated before the resource reaches a critical threshold. Path dependency is not unique to Alpine destinations. It also affects destinations other than winter sports resorts, such as the Andes (Raspaud, 2016), the Himalayas (Nyaupane and Timothy, 2022) and the Atlas Mountains (Charbonnier, 2017), where the offering has become specialized in a few flagship products: trekking, mountaineering and adventure tourism. We argue that these destinations also also warrant analysis through the lens of degrowth. A qualitative approach, based on semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders, could help identify tensions between economic dependence on these tourist activities and emerging initiatives aimed at rethinking development models.

29This path dependence can lead destinations to adopt strategies focused on upgrading their offerings, such as developing high-altitude winter sports resorts. Rather than aligning with degrowth principles, these strategies often result in elitism (Blanco-Romero et al., 2025) and exacerbate ecological and social impacts, particularly as the share of international tourists grows. The principle of "climate-just mobility " (Higgins-Desbiolles, 2023) could be applied to mountain areas. It encourages car-free stays and the use of multimodal tickets (e.g., train and shuttle buses) that internalize the carbon cost of the last mile traveled by car, the most polluting segment of the journey. We suggest that case studies measure the effects of these policies on the tourists’ modal shift. A comparative study between Chamonix Mont Blanc, Zermatt (already car-free) and the Aosta Valley (which has implemented soft mobility initiatives) would be relevant. The analysis could combione quantitative surveys of tourists to assess their adoption of car alternatives, alongside data on public transport usage and park-and-ride facilities.

30To reduce reliance on external capital, community-based tourism, rooted in profit redistribution and local governance, can support the local economies, as demonstrated by experiences in Latin America (Cañada, 2021; Chassagne and Everingham, 2019; Renkert, 2019; Ruiz-Ballesteros, 2020) and the Svalbard archipelago (Saville, 2022). While research has already explored community-based tourism in mountain areas, such as in India (Gupta et al., 2018), Indonesia (Harwood, 2010) or Iran (Khazaei Pul and Ramezanzadeh Lasboyee, 2023), these studies do not explicitly address degrowth. Their primary focus is on opening up isolated areas, rather than challenging growth-oriented paradigms.

31In contrast, tourist destinations facing overtourism have implemented regulatory tools to curb growth. In mountain areas, the example of South Tyrol (Kielar and Scuttari, 2024), which adopted a moratorium suspending all new accommodation capacity, demonstrates that while such measures face resistance from economic actors, they also highlight the trade-offs between short-term employment and long-term sustainability. In urban contexts, Spanish cities have experimented with daily visitor quotas and reservation systems to align tourist numbers with local accommodation capacities. These regulatory approaches could be adapted to mountain areas, particularly in protected areas experiencing rising visitor numbers, which can have consequences for biodiversity (Rogowski et al., 2025). However, such measures may trigger rebound effects, shifting pressure to neighboring valleys. We argue that interdisciplinary research is needed to assess the ecological impact of tourism, evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of management measures, and identify any rebound effects. This research should integrate ecological indicators (e.g., biodiversity, soil erosion) to measure the real ecosystem impact, quantitative surveys of tourists to understand their responses to regulations, and spatial analysis to map visitor movements.

32As studies in Spain have shown (Milano et al., 2019; Navarro-Jurado et al., 2019), residents’ quality of life is central to activist arguments against overtourism. Conflicts over new tourist infrastructure, such as those in the Austrian Alps (Wegerer and Nadegger, 2023), often revolve around critiques of growth-oriented capitalism rather than the projects themselves. Research in the French Alps has similarly focused on controversies surrounding ski area expansions (Poulain and Garcia, 2024) and artificial snow production, highlighting the difficulty of ‘diversifying winter tourism’ (Chambru and Picard, 2024). We propose extending such studies to other mountain ranges, in Europe and North America, using a comparative approach. While European ski area expansions are increasingly delayed or scaled back, the trend in North America is the opposite, like Deer Valley Resort, which has doubled the size of its ski area in recent years. A qualitative methodology combining semi-structured interviews and participant observation would be ideal for this analysis.

33At the individual level, entrepreneurs surveyed in several European countries prioritize quality of life over profit maximization, but face a ‘carbon paradox’ as they depend on an international, air-traveling clientele. Their influence over established companies remains limited and they struggle to shift regional networks away from pro-growth orientations. We suggest expanding research on mountain-based entrepreneurs. While Ivasciuc and Ispas (2023) studied the motivations and opportunities for young entrepreneurs in these areas to engage in the sustainable tourism market, their study did not engage with degrowth. From the tourists’ perspective, which was little questioned, further investigation is needed to understand how "less but better" narratives resonate. For both entrepreneurs and tourists, a mixed-method approach, combining questionnaires, interviews, and photo-elicitation, would yield valuable insights.

Haut de page

Bibliographie

Adityanandana M., Gerber J.-F., 2019.– “Post-growth in the Tropics? Contestations over Tri Hita Karana and a tourism megaproject in Bali”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 27, no 12, pp. 1839–1856.

Amore A., Adie B.A., 2020.– “Global importance, local problems: Degrowth in Italian World Heritage destinations”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge, London.

Asara V., Otero I., Demaria F., Corbera E., 2015.– « Socially sustainable degrowth as a social–ecological transformation: repoliticizing sustainability », Sustainability Sciences vol. 10, pp. 375–384.

Back A., Lundmark L., Zachrisson, A., 2025.– “Bridging (over)tourism geographies: proposing a systems approach in overtourism research”, Tourism geographies, vol. 27, no 2, pp.  293–312.

Ballantine P.W., 2020.– “Don’t leave town till you’ve seen the country: Domestic tourism as a degrowth strategy”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge, London.

Berard-Chenu L., François H., 2025.– “Verrouillages à la transition touristique : enseignements tirés de l’analyse des stations de sports d’hiver par la dépendance au sentier”, Via, no 27.

Blanco-Romero A., Blázquez-Salom M., Fletcher R., 2025.– “Fair vs. fake touristic degrowth”, Tourism Recreation Research, vol. 50, no 2, pp. 435–439.

Blázquez-Salom M., Murray I., Fletcher R., Sekulova F., Blanco-Romero A., Cañada E., 2024.– “Tourism and Degrowth: Beyond the Capitalist Growth Imperative”, The Routledge Handbook of Tourism Geographies, Routledge.

Blázquez-Salom M., Blanco-Romero ,Asunción, Vera-Rebollo ,Fernando, and Ivars-Baidal J., 2019.– “Territorial tourism planning in Spain: from boosterism to tourism degrowth?”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 27, no 12, pp. 1764–1785.

Boluk K.A., Krolikowski C., Higgins-Desbiolles F., Carnicelli S., Wijesinghe G., 2020.– “Rethinking tourism: Degrowth and equity rights in developing community-centric tourism”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge.

Boluk K.A., Cavaliere C.T., Higgins-Desbiolles F., 2019.– “A critical framework for interrogating the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Agenda in tourism”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 27, no 7, pp. 847–864.

Bourdeau P., 2021.– “Dilemmes de transition. Les destinations françaises de sports d’hiver entre agir créatif, inerties et maladaptation”, Géocarrefour, no 95.

Bourdeau P. Berthelot L., 2008.– “Tourisme et Décroissance : de la critique à l’utopie ?”, First international conference on Economic De-growth for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity, Paris, 18–19 April 2008

Büscher, B., Fletcher, R., 2017.– “Destructive creation: capital accumulation and the structural violence of tourism”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 25, no 5, pp. 651–667.

Butcher J., 2023.– “Covid-19, tourism and the advocacy of degrowth”, Tourism Recreation Research, vol. 48, no 5, pp. 633–642.

Butcher J., 2024.– “Debate on de-growth in tourism: reply to Higgins-Desbiolles and Everingham”, Tourism Recreation Research, vol. 49, no 5, pp. 1204–1207.

Çakar K., Uzut İ., 2020.– “Exploring the stakeholder’s role in sustainable degrowth within the context of tourist destination governance: the case of Istanbul, Turkey”, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, vol. 37, nos 8–9, pp. 917-932.

Cañada E., 2021.– “Community-based tourism in a degrowth perspective”, Issues and cases of degrowth in tourism, CABI Books, pp. 42–63.

Canavan B., 2014.– “Sustainable tourism: development, decline and de-growth. Management issues from the Isle of Man”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 22, no 1, pp. 127–147.

Carson D.A., Carson D.B., 2020.– “Opportunities and barriers for degrowth in remote tourism destinations: Overcoming regional inequalities?”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge.

Cederholm E.A., Sjöholm C., 2020.– “Decommodification as a socially embedded practice: The example of lifestyle enterprise in animal-based tourism”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge.

Chambru M., Picard M., 2024.– “Faire bifurquer le tourisme hivernal ? Controverses et mobilisations socio-environnementales autour de la transition écologique dans une station alpine (La Clusaz, France)”, Mondes du Tourisme, no 25.

Charbonnier A., 2017.– “Le ‘tourisme d’aventure organisé’, nouvelle utopie touristique ? Cas du trekking au Maroc”, Études caribéennes, nos 37-38.

Chassagne N., Everingham P., 2019.– “Buen Vivir: Degrowing extractivism and growing wellbeing through tourism”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 27, no 12, pp. 1909–1925.

Cheer J., Ting H., Leong C.M., 2021.– “Responsible Tourism: A New Era of Responsibility?”, Journal of Responsible Tourism Management, vol. 1, pp. 1. DOI : https://doi.org/10.47263/JRTM.01-01-01.

Clarimont, S., Vlès, V., 2016.– “Les contestations sociales du développement touristique dans les Hautes-Pyrénées : le rendez-vous manqué de l’innovation territoriale ?”, Journal of Alpine Research|Revue de géographie alpine, vol. 104, no 1.

Demiroglu O.C., Turhan E., 2020.– “Degrowing tourism: Can grassroots form the norm?”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge.

Daly H.E., 2008.– A steady-state economy, London, Sustainable Development Commisssion.

Díaz Soria I., Rayssac S., Blanco Romero A., 2023.– “Learning from crises: challenges and opportunities for rural inland territories in the south-west of France after COVID-19”, BAGE. Boletín de la Asociación Española de Geografía, no 99, pp. 12.

Drouet Q.B.G., Barrioz A., 2024.– “‘Gentrification altitudinale’ et ‘descenseur social valléen’ par le prisme de l’accès au logement dans les Alpes françaises”, Journal of Alpine Research|Revue de géographie alpine, vol. 112, no 3.

Dwyer L., 2024.– “Tourism Degrowth and Resident Well-being”, Journal of Tourism, Sustainability and Well-being, vol. 12, n3, pp. 206–225.

Dwyer L., 2023.– “Tourism Degrowth: Painful but Necessary”, Sustainability, vol. 15, no 20, pp. 14676.

Eriksson A., Balslev Clausen H., 2024.– “Nature always recovers! A degrowth analysis of event participants’ perspective on environmental impacts”, Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism, vol. 45, pp. 100706. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jort.2023.100706.

Everingham P., Chassagne N., 2020.– “Post COVID-19 ecological and social reset: moving away from capitalist growth models towards tourism as Buen Vivir”, Tourism Geographies, vol. 22, no 3, pp. 555–566.

Falter M., 2024.– “The role of rural tourism lifestyle entrepreneurs in rethinking current tourism development”, Journal of Tourism Futures. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/JTF-09-2023-0205.

Fletcher R., 2011.– “Sustaining Tourism, Sustaining Capitalism? The Tourism Industry’s Role in Global Capitalist Expansion”, Tourism Geographies, vol. 13, no 3, pp. 443–461.

Fletcher R., Blanco-Romero A., Blázquez-Salom M., Cañada E., Murray Mas I., Sekulova F., 2023.– “Pathways to post-capitalist tourism”, Tourism Geographies, vol. 25, nos 2–3, pp. 707–728.

Fletcher R., Murray Mas ,Ivan, Blanco-Romero ,Asunción, and Blázquez-Salom M., 2019.– “Tourism and degrowth: an emerging agenda for research and praxis”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 27, no 12, pp. 1745–1763.

Fontanari M., Traskevich A., Seraphin H., 2021.– “(De)growth imperative: the importance of destination resilience in the context of overtourism”, Issues and cases of degrowth in tourism, CABI Books, pp. 22–41.

Gascón J., 2019.– “Tourism as a right: a ‘frivolous claim’ against degrowth?”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 27, no 12, pp. 1825–1838.

Gupta S., Rout P., Tyagi P.K., 2018.– “Community Based Tourism Development Amid Complex Mountain Issues: A Strategic Analysis of Chakrata Region of Uttarakhand”, International Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Systems, vol. 12.

Hall C.M., 2009.– “Degrowing Tourism: Décroissance, Sustainable Consumption and Steady-State Tourism”, Anatolia, vol. 20, no1, pp. 46–61.

Hall C.M., 2010.– “Changing Paradigms and Global Change: From Sustainable to Steady-state Tourism”, Tourism Recreation Research, vol. 35, no 2, pp. 131–143.

Hall C. M., 2022.– “Tourism and the Capitalocene: From Green Growth to Ecocide”, Tourism Planning & Development, vol. 19, no 1, pp. 61–74.

Hall C.M., Wood K.J., 2021.– “Demarketing Tourism for Sustainability: Degrowing Tourism or Moving the Deckchairs on the Titanic?”, Sustainability, vol. 13, no 3, pp. 1585.

Harwood S., 2010.– “Planning for Community Based Tourism in a Remote Location”, Sustainability, vol. 2, no 7, pp. 1909–1923.

Hatt É., Claeys C., 2024.– “Dépendance, attachement, contestation : quelles transitions pour les stations de sports d’hiver ?”, Journal of Alpine Research|Revue de géographie alpine, vol. 112, no 1.

Higgins-Desbiolles F., Carnicelli S., Krolikowski C., Wijesinghe G., Boluk K., 2019.– “Degrowing tourism: rethinking tourism”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 27, no 12, pp. 1926–1944.

Higgins-Desbiolles F., 2023.– “Subsidiarity in tourism and travel circuits in the face of climate crisis”, Current Issues in Tourism, vol. 26, no 19, pp. 3091–3101.

Higgins-Desbiolles F., and Everingham P., 2022.– “Degrowth in tourism: advocacy for thriving not diminishment”, Tourism Recreation Research, vol. 49, no 1, pp. 215–219.

Hollenhorst S.J., Houge-Mackenzie ,S., and Ostergren D.M., 2014.– “The Trouble with Tourism”, Tourism Recreation Research, vol. 39, no 3, pp. 305–319.

Ivasciuc I.-S., Ispas A., 2023.– “Exploring the Motivations, Abilities and Opportunities of Young Entrepreneurs to Engage in Sustainable Tourism Business in the Mountain Area”, Sustainability, vol. 15, no 3, pp.1956.

Kallis, G., 2011.– “In defense of degrowth”, Ecological Economics, vol. 70, no 5, pp. 873–880.

Khazaei Pul M., Ramezanzadeh Lasboyee M., 2023.– “The Community-based Tourism Model of Mountain Villages with the Grounded Theory Approach (Case Study: Kojur District, Nowshahr County)”, Journal of Research and Rural Planning, vol. 12, no 1, pp. 61–76.

Kielar S., Scuttari A., 2024.– “Moratoria as Possible Governmental Regulations for Degrowth: A Critical Discourse Analysis of the Bed Capacity Limit in the Local Media of South Tyrol (Italy)”, From Overtourism to Sustainability Governance, Routledge.

Kotler P., Levy, S.J., 1971.– “Demarketing? Yes, demarketing!”, Harvard Business Review, vol. 49, pp. 74–80.

Kulusjärvi O., 2020.– “Diverse tourism: A poststructural view on tourism destination degrowth transition”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge.

Langer M., Schmude J., 2024.– “COVID-19 as a paradigm shift? Insights from the degrowth debate in tourism”, European Journal of Tourism Research, vol. 36, pp. 3607–3607.

Latouche S., 2006.– Le pari de la décroissance, Fayard.

Latouche S., 2024.– La Décroissance, Humensis.

Lundmark L., Demiroglu O.C., Nesterova I., 2024.– “Dogs, Frogs and Degrowth: Sustainable Development and Arctification as a Destination Development Dilemma in Northern Sweden”, dans M. Pillmayer, M. Karl, M. Hansen (dir.), Tourism Destination Development: A Geographic Perspective on Destination Management and Tourist Demand. De Gruyter, pp. 219–240.

Lundmark L., Zhang J.J., Hall C.M., 2020.– “Introduction: Degrowth and tourism: implications and challenges”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge.

Margaryan L., Fredman P., Stensland S., 2020.– “Lifestyle entrepreneurs as agents of degrowth: The case of nature-based tourism businesses in Scandinavia”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge.

Marušić E., Kovačić K., Peronja I., 2024.– “Nautical Tourism Degrowth – Sustainable Solutions in the Nautical Ports’ Value Chain”, Degrowth and Green Growth - Sustainable Innovation, IntechOpen.

Milano C., Novelli M., Cheer J.M., 2019.– “Overtourism and degrowth: a social movements perspective”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 27, no 12, pp. 1857–1875.

Moher D., Liberati A., Tetzlaff J., Altman D. G., Prisma Group., 2009.– “Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: The PRISMA statement”, PLoS Medicine, vol. 6, no 7, art. e1000097. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. pmed.1000097.

Muler González V., Galí Espelt N., 2021.– “How do degrowth values in tourism influence the host–guest exchange? An exploratory analysis in small towns in the rurality”, Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, vol. 19, no 6, pp. 884–903.

Murray I., Fletcher R., Blázquez-Salom M., Blanco-Romero A., Cañada E., Sekulova F., 2023.– “Tourism and degrowth”, Tourism Geographies, vol. 27, nos 3-4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616688.2023.2293956.

Navarro-Jurado E., Romero-Padilla Y., Romero-Martínez J.M., Serrano-Muñoz E., Habegger S., Mora-Esteban R., 2019.– “Growth machines and social movements in mature tourist destinations Costa del Sol-Málaga”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 27, no 12)-, pp. 1786–1803.

Nieuwland S., 2024.– “Urban tourism transitions: doughnut economics applied to sustainable tourism development”, Tourism Geographies, vol. 26, no 2, pp. 255–273.

Nyaupane G.P., Timothy D.J., 2022.– Tourism and Development in the Himalaya: Social, Environmental, and Economic Forces, Routledge.

Panzer-Krause S., 2019.– “Networking towards sustainable tourism: innovations between green growth and degrowth strategies”, Regional Studies, vol. 53, no 7, pp. 927–938.

Panzer-Krause S., 2022.– “Rural Tourism in and after the COVID-19 Era: ‘Revenge Travel’ or Chance for a Degrowth-Oriented Restart? Cases from Ireland and Germany”, Tourism and Hospitality, vol. 3, no 2, pp. 399–415.

Perkumienė D., Pranskūnienė R., 2019.– “Overtourism: Between the Right to Travel and Residents’ Rights”, Sustainability, vol. 11, no 7, pp. 2138.

Pickering C.M., Buckley R.C., 2010.– “Climate Response by the Ski Industry: The Shortcomings of Snowmaking for Australian Resorts”, AMBIO, vol. 39, no 5, pp. 430–438.

Pinto H., Barboza M., Nogueira C., 2025.– “Perceptions and Behaviors Concerning Tourism Degrowth and Sustainable Tourism: Latent Dimensions and Types of Tourists”, Sustainability, vol. 17, no 2, pp. 387.

Poulain M., Garcia P.-O., 2024.– « Négocier la climatisation de la strate glaciaire. Le cas du projet d’aménagement du troisième tronçon du téléphérique de La Grave”, Journal of Alpine Research|Revue de géographie alpine, vol. 112, no 1.

Prideaux B., Pabel A., 2020.– “Degrowth as a strategy for adjusting to the adverse impacts of climate change in a nature-based destination”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge.

Raspaud M., 2016.– “Mount Aconcagua (6959m, Argentina): Management of an adventure tourism destination”, Sport Tourism and Local Sustainable Development: Prospective of globalization effects - Actors strategy and responsibility, Editions L’Harmattan, Paris.

Renaud L., 2020.– “Reconsidering global mobility – distancing from mass cruise tourism in the aftermath of COVID-19”, Tourism Geographies, vol. 22, no 3, pp. 679–689.

Renkert S.R., 2019.– “Community-owned tourism and degrowth: a case study in the Kichwa Añangu community”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 27, no 12, pp. 1893–1908.

Rogowski M., Zawilińska B., Hibner J., 2025.– “Managing tourism pressure: Exploring tourist traffic patterns and seasonality in mountain national parks to alleviate overtourism effects”, Journal of Environmental Management, vol. 373, pp. 123430.

Ruiz-Ballesteros E., 2020.– “Community-based tourism and degrowth”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge.

Ruiz-Ballesteros E., González-Portillo A., 2024.– “Limiting rural tourism: Local agency and community-based tourism in Andalusia (Spain)”, Tourism Management, vol. 104, p. 104938.

Saarinen J., 2020.– “Sustainable growth in tourism? Rethinking and resetting sustainable tourism for development”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge.

Sard M., Valle E., 2024.– “Tourism degrowth: quantification of its economic impact”, Current Issues in Tourism, vol. 27, no 22, pp. 3786–3801.

Saville S.M., 2022.– « Valuing time: Tourism transitions in Svalbard », Polar Record, vol. 58, pp. e11.

Seyfi S., Hall C.M., 2020.– “COVID-19 pandemic, tourism and degrowth”, Degrowth and Tourism. New Perspectives on Tourism Entrepreneurship, Destinations and Policy, Routledge.

Sharpley R., 2020.– “Tourism, sustainable development and the theoretical divide: 20 years on”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 28, no 11, pp. 1932–1946.

Steiger R., Knowles ,Natalie, Pöll ,Katharina, and Rutty M., 2024.– “Impacts of climate change on mountain tourism: a review”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 32, no 9, pp. 1984–2017.

Taş Gürsoy İ., 2020.– “Old Kids on the New Block: Engaging Civil Society in Tourism Degrowth”, Almatourism - Journal of Tourism, Culture and Territorial Development, vol. 11, no 21, pp. 1–22.

Valdivielso J., Moranta J., 2019.– “The social construction of the tourism degrowth discourse in the Balearic Islands”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 27, no 12, pp. 1876–1892.

Vlès V., 2021.– “Anticiper le changement climatique dans les stations de ski : la science, le déni, l’autorité”, Sud-Ouest européen. Revue géographique des Pyrénées et du Sud-Ouest, no 51, pp. 127–139.

Wasudawan K., and Weissmann M.A., 2025.– “Over-Tourism: A Review and Research Agenda”, Global Business and Organizational Excellence.

Wegerer P.K., and Nadegger M., 2023.– “It’s time to act! Understanding online resistance against tourism development projects”, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 31, no 2, pp. 425–441.

Windegger F., 2024.– “Addressing the Limits to Growth in Tourism: A Degrowth Perspective”, From Overtourism to Sustainability Governance, Routledge.

Haut de page

Notes

1 In the context of regional economies, path dependence is understood as a regional economic specialization characterized by lock-in effects that steer an industrial sector towards a particular path (Berard-Chenu and François, 2025)

Haut de page

Table des illustrations

Titre Figure 1: PRISMA flow diagram
URL http://journals.openedition.org/rga/docannexe/image/17199/img-1.png
Fichier image/png, 109k
Titre Figure 2: Annual number of publications combining the terms ‘Tourism’ and ‘Degrowth’
URL http://journals.openedition.org/rga/docannexe/image/17199/img-2.png
Fichier image/png, 23k
Titre Figure 3: Disciplinary distribution of publications
URL http://journals.openedition.org/rga/docannexe/image/17199/img-3.png
Fichier image/png, 60k
Titre Figure 4: Word cloud of the most frequently used terms in publications
URL http://journals.openedition.org/rga/docannexe/image/17199/img-4.png
Fichier image/png, 218k
Titre Figure 5: Distribution of destination types and continents
URL http://journals.openedition.org/rga/docannexe/image/17199/img-5.png
Fichier image/png, 55k
Titre Figure 6: Scales of analysis and methodologies used
URL http://journals.openedition.org/rga/docannexe/image/17199/img-6.png
Fichier image/png, 47k
Titre Figure 7: Key themes and terms exclusive to each
URL http://journals.openedition.org/rga/docannexe/image/17199/img-7.png
Fichier image/png, 914k
Haut de page

Pour citer cet article

Référence électronique

Clémence Perrin-Malterre, « Tourism and Degrowth: A Literature Review to Establish a Research Agenda for Mountain Regions »Journal of Alpine Research | Revue de géographie alpine [En ligne], 114-1 | 2026, mis en ligne le 25 avril 2026, consulté le 12 mai 2026. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/rga/17199 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/165gj

Haut de page

Auteur

Clémence Perrin-Malterre

Assistant professor
University Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB), CNRS, Environnement, Dynamics et Territories, Mountain (EDYTEM), 73000 Chambéry, France

Articles du même auteur

Haut de page

Droits d’auteur

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

Le texte seul est utilisable sous licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Les autres éléments (illustrations, fichiers annexes importés) sont susceptibles d’être soumis à des autorisations d’usage spécifiques.

Haut de page
Rechercher dans OpenEdition Search

Vous allez être redirigé vers OpenEdition Search