Lessons from the Past: A Swiss Case Study on Ski Resorts and Degrowth in the Face of Climate Change

Ski tourism is severely threatened by climate change, primarily due to reduced snowfall, shorter ski seasons, and an anticipated shrinkage of the market. These changes are increasingly dividing ski resorts into so-called “winners” and “losers”. Artificial snowmaking, although still widely used as the main adaptation strategy to climate-related impacts, faces growing challenges due to resource limitations and rising costs. Additionally, diversification, which is often promoted as the most sustainable solution, appears insufficient to compensate for the substantial losses resulting from disappearing ski seasons. In this context, fostering resilient and sustainable development in climate-impacted ski resorts calls for alternative approaches, with degrowth emerging as a potential pathway. This research attempts to investigate how and if degrowth is a desirable solution to address ski resorts struggling with severe climate change impacts, using the Swiss municipality of Lungern as a case study. Semi-structured interviews with key municipal stakeholders were conducted to explore the destination’s transformation. Following the bankruptcy of its ski resort, Lungern transitioned toward a downsized, more sustainable, and niche tourism offering, which has prompted a redistribution of ecological, social, and economic value, predominantly positive for the population. The municipality has demonstrated its ability to mitigate climate-related impacts and has strengthened its resilience in the face of broader crises, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Although Lungern may be classified as a typical “loser” in the context of climate impacted ski tourism, it is perceived both by local stakeholders and through this analysis as a “winner” in achieving a sustainable transformation. This study further provides a practical example of a grassroots movement, contributing to the predominantly theoretical discussions in degrowth literature and offering an alternative narrative to what is often framed as a hopeless situation.