Municipality of Finhaut: Sustainable tourism development, in the mountain village of Finhaut

Context and background

The municipality of Finhaut, composed of the villages of Finhaut, Giétroz and Châtelard, is situated on the old stage coach route from Chamonix to Martigny. Between the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, it experienced a Golden Age of tourism, when European aristocracy and bourgeoisie (mostly English) met there in summer. Finhaut was then the second most important resort of Valais after Zermatt, with about fifteen hotels, a dynamic local economy [1,2], and a train line connection to Martigny. The tourist boom of the Belle Epoque came to an end with the First World War. In 1920, the construction of the Barberine dam began (marking a milestone of the electrification of the Swiss railway network and celebrating this year the 100th anniversary of its construction), and Finhaut’s economy shifted from a touristic to an industrial one. Despite the return of an intensive touristic activity in 1930, thanks to a tourism promotion campaign, the Golden Age of tourism was far from being restored. After the Second World War, two new dams were constructed (Vieux-Emosson in 1952 and Emosson in 1975) and the effortless flow of steady income from hydroelectric fees killed the interest and the need for tourism development and promotion. The hotels were first converted into sanatorium, then for summer camps. During the period 1960- 1980 the activity of tourist accommodation basically came to an end, with most of the hotels being transformed into apartments. Currently, besides a bed and breakfast, two accommodation options for groups, and some AirBnB rentals, there are no hotel businesses operating in the municipality of Finhaut.

Project description

One of the key elements needed for a sustainable tourism is an accommodation offer. As discussed in the previous section (“context and the background of the project”), there are currently no more hotels in Finhaut. The other key elements are infrastructures and offers of activities and services.

This project is part of the Transformative Projects: teams of 3-4 SMT students from different disciplines work together over three months on a topic developed by a company with the objective to propose new perspectives and solutions that can have the potential to transform industry or societal practices.