Mountain sports tourism as an ecosystem market

ABSTRACT Mountain sports tourism literature shows a lack of conceptualisation probably due to its own particular character. Indeed, it is a complex market consisting of several products, services and actors from different natures. This paper examines how, on the one hand, the ecosystem approach, and on the other hand, the socioeconomic co-evolution of sport and tourism can help to understand the mountain sports tourism. The paper hypothesis argues that actors’ interactions, and sport and tourism economic models’ convergence have contributed to shape this market. The ecosystem’s actors have mobilised resources and strategies in order to incorporate sport and tourism industries to establish and to develop a specific market in mountainous areas. The French case study shows how entrepreneurs, local authorities, consumers, institutions, etc. seized the opportunity offered by the development of the society of leisure to constitute a socioeconomic community based on mountain sports tourism in the sense of James Moore [(1993). Predator and prey: Anew ecology of competition. Harvard Business Review, (May–June), 73–86; (1996). Business ecosystem and the view from the firm. Antitrust Bulletin, 51(1), 31–75].