Presentation short abstract

Analyzing French mountain transitions, we show how tourism diversification fuels gentrification via high-end strategies and second-home expansion. These policies redistribute socio-ecological benefits to the elite, leaving the costs to local populations.

Presentation long abstract

In France, mountain tourism policies initially aimed at economic revitalization for the benefit of local populations. These top-down policies also aimed to democratise access to nature. However, these high-minded ideals have given way to market-driven logics (Bourdeau, 2009), thereby generating environmental inequalities (Taylor, 2024). Today, climate change is destabilising this economic model, which is now compelled to undergo an ecological transition (Hatt et Claeys, 2024).

This paper analyses the socio-environmental effects of top-down transition policies based on tourism diversification (Degache et al., 2024). The analysis draws on two case studies: the development of a cycling route in the Hautes-Alpes and the repurposing of a ski resort in the Pyrénées (Puigmal). Based on fieldwork (79 interviews and 2 questionnaires, n = 1 225), we demonstrate that these policies reinforce pre-existing environmental inequalities and create new ones. These policies induce rural gentrification (Richard & Tommasi, 2025) for two reasons. First, through the development of socially selective tourism with a high ecological impact—tourism, particularly cycling, being indeed considered a "high-end" product (Coll Ramis et al., 2022). Second, through the proliferation of second homes and the capture of housing stock for tourist rentals (Yrigoy et al., 2022). The socio-ecological costs and benefits of these policies are unevenly distributed, benefiting the urban upper classes at the expense of lower-income local populations. These constitute two deadlocks previously identified by political ecology, hindering the implementation of a transition toward tourism degrowth (Murray et al., 2025).