The environmental tourist.

How to be an ecofriendly tourist in the Alps

Guests at the Waldhaus Am See in St. Moritz bring more than baggage to the 36-room hotel. With manager Claudio Bernasconi's encouragement, each week in summer they cart in box loads of trash they've found in the Swiss mountains.

The visitor who brings in the most litter gets room and board for a week on the house. The record is 19 kilograms, mostly cans, collected by two Swiss women on vacation last August.

" They said they worked so hard they were going to need another holiday, " Bernasconi laughs.

The hotel's two-year-old campaign is meant to encourage visitors to protect the Alpine environment. But Bernasconi and tourist officials throughout the Alps know that responsible or " soft" tourism requires more than picking up litter.

Successful ecotourists, they say, must start with careful planning — finding leisure activities and transportation that go easy on the environment and searching out resorts that promote active preservation of the Alps.

Once the traveller has arrived, moreover, he or she must strive to conserve energy, avoid endangered species and purchase local products, generally produced by mountain farmers who sustain the fragile landscape of the Alps. One approach to soft tourism is scheduling a trip between seasons.

Staggering of holiday schedules helps reduce the choking, noisy traffic that tops the list of environmental concerns in most Alpine regions. Alpine resorts generally boom during the height of winter, when hotels are filled to 100 per cent of capacity.

Another important way to mitigate the environmental assault from autos is to take public transportation whenever possible.

In some areas, like Zermatt, Switzerland, local transport is an attraction in itself. In Zermatt, a mountain community 1, 620 meters high, cars are forbidden. In their place, a fleet of five electric buses carries skiers to lifts (the fare about $1.40).

Hotels ferry luggage on some 380 smaller electric vehicles. The payoff for the environment is low pollution and energy demand, and blissful quiet.

The environmental ethic should continue inside the hotel.

Responsible tourists should reduce their own demand for energy whenever possible by flicking off unnecessary lights, by turning down heat, and by finding out how often the hotel changes sheets and towels, and letting the concierge know if they can get by with the same laundry for a longer period of time.

Tourists who visit local shops can try to buy items with minimal wrapping that will add less trash to overloaded waste systems. They can also purchase locally made products when possible. Goods made nearby require less energy to transport, and their sale supports the Alpine economy. Finally, ecotourists should take their environmental ethic onto the ski slopes and hiking trails of the Alps.

It is important to avoid straying from marked paths or ski runs unless a local guide is present. Snow protects plants and animals through the winter and skis can slash the blanket that enables them to survive.

The future of the alpine ecosystem depends on the behavior of the millions of tourists each year who enjoy the beauty and grandeur of the Alps.

Damage done by the unthinking tourist can be irreversible, and in some parts of the Alps, trash thrown to the side of the trail will be preserved for decades in a deep freeze.

But if everyone cooperates, the payoff will be rewarding vacations in the lush alpine environment for generations to come.

Task 1. Find in the text answers to these questions:

1. How did one Swiss hotel help protect the environment?

2. What does " soft" tourism require?

3. What should successful ecotourist start with?

4. How do responsible tourists sustain the fragile landscape of the Alps?

5. What is another approach to soft tourism?

6. Why is staggering of holiday schedules so vital in most Alpine regions?

7. Are there any other ways to mitigate the environmental assault from cars?

8. How should the environmental ethic continue inside the hotel?

9. What shopping principles should ecotourists follow?

10. How can ecotourists protect the environment on the ski slopes and hiking trails of the Alps?

11. What does the future of the alpine ecosystem depend on?

12. Why is damage done to the nature irreversible?

13. What is the payoff for everyone who takes care of the environment?

Task 2. Say what you've learned from the text about:

a) at least ten ways of being a good " ecotourist";

b) " soft" tourism (or Green Tourism) principles;

the roles of local community in protecting the future environment of the Alpine ecosystem.