Adapting the winter tourism of the Pyrenees to a future climate change

The Pyrenees is one ofthe most important winter tourism regions in Europe afterthe Alps comprising the south of France, north of Spain and the small country of Andorra. Among all the winter activities, alpine ski is the most important one in this region in terms of visitors and revenues. Enclosing 49 alpine ski resorts,this region receives around 11 million of skiers per year, having a huge impact in the economy ofthe mountain communities. A high geographic variability at very short distances is observed in the vulnerability level ofthe Pyrenean ski resorts to future climate change. This heterogeneity, due to both the physical and the socioeconomic specificities of each ski resort, leads to different challenges and the necessity of differentiated adaptation strategies for each case. However,the industry and the public administrations tend to assume thatthe same mainstream measures and strategies are suited for all ski resorts leading to a misadaptation or a lack of response/inaction in many cases.