Читать книгу Global Experience Industries - Jens Christensen - Страница 54

While winter sport is a broader term for several sports such as skiing (alpine, cross-country, jumping, snow-boarding), ice hockey, ice skating, sledding, etc., winter tourism includes mainly skiing and snowboarding. Along with mass summer tourism, winter tourism has expanded into a big business in several countries, first and foremost in West European countries such as Norway, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and France and in USA and Canada. In some countries such as Austria and Norway, winter tourism is even more important than summer tourism.¹¹³ Mainly, winter tourism includes alpine skiing resorts in the Alp and North American countries, whereas cross-country skiing predominates in the Nordic countries. Many Alpine towns and regions depend economically on skiing tourism and have a wide range of skiing resorts with lifts, tracks, ski equipment rental, ski instruction, etc. as well as hotels, restaurants and many other facilities and their suppliers. Often, thousands of employees and hundreds of firms in a region depend on winter tourism. Ski trips are largely provided by the same tour operators, travel agencies and transportation companies that deal with summer tourism, although some companies have specialized in winter tourism.¹¹⁴ Winter tourism in the Alps and the Nordic countries as well as North America has paved the way for an industry of skiing equipment (see the chapter on Sports). Furthermore, great winter sport events such as Winter OL have blurred the line between tourism and sports, too. Sports tourism, in winter as well as in summer, has turned into a considerable business.¹¹⁵