AAC - Alpine Awareness Camps

Thilo Bohatsch: With its clear focus on sustainability in alpine outdoor sports and tourism, the Interreg project AAC (Alpine Awareness Camps) is changing the content of the existing SAAC camps. While SAAC camps have been successfully raising awareness of safety issues among individual mountain sports enthusiasts for many years (e.g. avalanche awareness or risk assessment), AAC expands this approach to include an ecological, social and touristic dimension.

At the heart of AAC is a responsible approach to nature and habitats in the Alps. Topics such as the protection of alpine fauna and flora, conflicts between recreational use and regional interests, sustainable tour planning and environmentally friendly mobility are systematically integrated into the camp content. The aim is not only to teach sustainable behavior in theory, but also to make it tangible in the field and thus initiate long-term changes in behavior.

AAC also makes targeted use of the opportunities offered by digitalization, for example through a digital platform with learning opportunities and tools for sustainable tour planning. The project thus goes beyond the classic camp format and aims to establish sustainable outdoor sports as a long-term standard in the Alpine region.

Thilo Bohatsch: A key finding of the study on sustainable outdoor sports by the University of Innsbruck is that sustainability is fundamentally an important topic for many mountain sports enthusiasts, especially in connection with resource conservation and the long-term use of products. At the same time, however, there is a gap between attitude and actual behavior, for example when it comes to using public transport to get to the mountains. According to the study, there is a particular need for information and awareness-raising in this area.

In addition, it became clear that changes in the Alpine region are strongly perceived, particularly in the landscape (e.g. glacier retreat), weather conditions and increasing visitor frequency. These developments increase the pressure on nature and infrastructure and make visitor management, adaptability and more personal responsibility in mountain sports necessary. Experts therefore emphasize the importance of targeted information and practical training to promote sustainable behavior in the Alpine region.

Overall, the study provides an important basis for the further development of the AAC formats, which should combine safety and sustainability more closely. Around 1,000 outdoor sports enthusiasts in Tyrol and Bavaria were surveyed and supplemented by in-depth interviews with tourism and sustainability experts.

Thilo Bohatsch: We provide tourism associations with content that can be used free of charge. Materials and information from the website can be used directly for guest information, communication or training of guides and employees. The comprehensive AAC concept is also available for download as a practical aid. This offers concrete processes and examples of how sustainability can be systematically integrated into the training and further education of hiking guides and hosts, for example.

Another benefit lies in strategic destination development. The scientific AAC study provides tourism associations with sound data on trends in outdoor sports, perceived changes in the Alpine region and the needs of guests. These findings can be used for product development, arguments to decision-makers or the further development of sustainability strategies.

Last but not least, SAAC camps are no longer just safety camps. As the participants learn all about the conservation value of our alpine fauna and flora, a SAAC camp also has one more sustainability measure in its portfolio.