Abstract
Starting from the assumption that the climate change is currently affecting negatively the tourist sector and considering the necessity to find some sustainable forms of tourism, the enogastronomic tourism appears as a solution.
This study starts from the awareness that climate change and global warming are nowadays threatening the planet and its tourist attractions. Among these, mountain destinations tend to suffer from snow scarcity and extreme weather-related phenomena such as floods. This provokes an evident loss of tourist flows in these locations that are generally snow-reliable and weather-dependent. Hence, the study highlights the necessity to change perspective and shift the attention to another alternative and sustainable type of tourism, able to face a potential reduction of visitors and attract a new segment. It is the case of the enogastronomic tourism which is gaining more and more popularity. Beyond its experiential and evocative activities linked to local culture and territory, it turned out to be an effective dynamo of sustainable forms of tourism. This article aims at outlining the case of the Valle d’Aosta region: after a short description of its resources and its current touristic situation, the final in loco research made use of five interviews to analyse the already-existing offer and demand of the enogastronomic tourism in this destination. Moreover, this study continues with some considerations about potential improvements to undertake and criticalities to cope with. In particular, it shows how Valle d’Aosta might become a region with an enogastronomic vocation linked to sustainability through the implementation of diversified services, a focused promotion and communication of the destination and a better cooperation between the private and the public sector.