Frugex- Frugality and tourist behavior in the mountains

A transition to more sustainable lifestyles has become a major societal challenge. A change in consumer behavior must be encouraged to meet current and future climatic, economic and social challenges. Tourism is also a vector of these imbalances, but remains a pillar of the economy that is difficult to do without, as the Covid-19 crisis has highlighted.

Tourism whose actions are designed to promote transition can contribute to the solution. To achieve this, we need to bring innovative elements to the transition, particularly in mountain environments. At the heart of the tourism experience, we can try to influence tourist behavior so that they engage in more responsible behavior. One way of doing this is through the experience of frugality, in the sense of a lifestyle based on simplicity and sobriety. Does the temporary experience of deprivation encourage individuals to modify their consumption once they return to their daily lives? Does this behavior persist over the long term?

The project is based on a multi-disciplinary approach combining marketing, sociology and psycho-sociology, using interviews. The project is focused on two areas: the GR65 pilgrimage route between Le-Puy-en-Velay and Conques, to meet a clientele of pilgrims and hikers, and the refuges of the Ecrins massif, to meet a clientele of hikers, on the basis of data already collected as part of the RefLab project.

The aim of this research project is to make a theoretical contribution, with managerial and societal implications.