# Tourism diversification process around trail running in the Pays of Allevard (Isère, France)

Clémence Perrin-Malterre

► To cite this version:

Clémence Perrin-Malterre. Tourism diversification process around trail running in the Pays of Allevard (Isère, France). Journal of Sport & Tourism, 2018, 22 (1), pp.67-82. 10.1080/14775085.2018.1432410. hal-01814670

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# Title : Tourism diversification process around trail running in the Pays of Allevard (Isère)

Author : Clémence Perrin-Malterre

University Savoie Mont Blanc

EDYTEM Lab

Campus scientifique

Pôle montagne

73 376 Le Bourget du Lac Cedex

Tel : 00 33 4 79 75 86 13

Email : clemence.perrin-malterre@univ-smb.fr

## Abstract

The objective of this paper is to analyze the actors' interactions around this tourism diversification process based on outdoor sports, and in particular trail running, in the Pays of Allevard. To understand the tourism diversification process, it is necessary to analyze the way the local actors use the sport, take ownership of it, and transform it according to their interests, in particular to make it a tourism resource.
The Pays d'Allevard, a medium altitude tourism destination focused on its thermal spa and winter sports, is questioning its future. Indeed, like other spa resorts, it is suffering from the thermal spa crisis in France linked to lower treatment reimbursements by the French national health system and an ageing clientele (Jazé-Charvolin, 2014). And, like other municipalities supporting a ski resort, it is confronting climate change leading to less snowfall, which no longer enables it to guarantee a good quality offer (Richard et al., 2010); increased competition forcing mountain destinations to fiercely compete with each other although their offer has reached maturity and their skiing product is losing its competitive edge (Botti et al., 2012); and sociocultural changes causing modifications in customer demand, with greater importance given to the fun and emotional aspects of activities (Corneloup, 2007). It is also impacted by the changes in the tourism sector, marked by more fragmented stays (Duhamel & Knafou, 2007), and the development of new forms of "residentialities" (Hugues & Billet, 2010) with the transformation of tourist residences into main residences. Finally, it is the "NOTRE" law that modifies territorial organization, in particular regarding tourism, through the reinforcement of intermunicipal associations. According to this law, the promotion of tourism, including the creation of a tourist office, is now one of the competencies that associations of municipalities rightfully exercise in the place of the individual member municipalities.

Faced with these changes, and supported by the regional and departmental tourism strategies<fnref n="1" />, certain territorial actors have decided to launch a diversification of tourism fueled by outdoor sports. Active sports tourism (Pigeassou, 2004) is indeed considered an opportunity for territories to develop and renew their tourism offer (Bouchet & Bouhaouala, 2009; Radicchi, 2013), even if not every experience has been successful (Haschar-Noé, 2008), in particular when the local population does not want to seize this opportunity (Costa & Chalip, 2005).

The objective of this paper is to analyze the actors' interactions around this tourism diversification process based on outdoor sports, and in particular trail running, in the Pays of Allevard. The latter is a territory comprising six municipalities with a total of 7940 inhabitants. Allevard and Saint-Pierre d'Allevard are the two largest municipalities<fnref n="2" />, while the other four municipalities<fnref n="3" /> all have less than 500 inhabitants.

<caption>**Figure 1:** Map of the Pays d'Allevard</caption>

<footnote n="1">¹ Tourism diversification is one of the facets of the Regional Tourism and Leisure Development Scheme in the Auvergne Rhône Alpes Region, and one of the operational objectives of the Tourism Development Scheme of the Isère Departmental Council.</footnote>

<footnote n="2">² In 2012, Allevard had 3888 inhabitants and Saint-Pierre d'Allevard had 2858.</footnote>

<footnote n="3">³ The other four municipalities are Chapelle du Bard (526 inhabitants), Le Moutaret (237 inhabitants), La Ferrière (231 inhabitants) and Pinsot (206 inhabitants).</footnote>
We will first present the two main tourist centers in the Pays d'Allevard. Second, we will present the theoretical framework used in the context of this study in order to understand the functioning of tourist destinations, territorial resources construction, and the tourist identity of the destinations. Then, we will describe the methodology of the study. Finally, we will analyze the actors' interactions around this tourism diversification process based on trail running activity.

# I. The two main tourist centers in the Pays d'Allevard

The economic development of the Pays was marked by agriculture, but also industry and tourism. Most of the industrial activity was focused on iron, involving both mining and metallurgy (Monnet, 1927). These industrial activities reached their peak in the 19th century and declined in the 20th century. Tourism was organized around two main activities: the thermal spa and winter sports.

The first activity, the thermal spa, was born thanks to the presence of sulphurous water. "It began to be used in the early 19th century, and a small establishment with five to six baths was founded in 1834." (Monnet, 1927, p. 118). In 1848, the doctor Bernard Niepce specified the medical properties of the Allevard thermal water in order to treat respiratory diseases along with vocal cord disorders. This specific property of the Allevard waters attracted opera singers, orators, businessmen and politicians. "The prosperity of the Baths contributed to the transformation of Allevard. This small mountain town became a modest spa town, with a dozen hotels and numerous villas, and furnished apartments were rented for the season, from June to October." (Monnet, 1927, p. 119). Allevard's thermal spa thus flourished in the mid-19th century, due to the sophisticated, elitist nature of the clientele coming to take thermal cures. In 1909, a casino was built in the town. As of 1936, Allevard opened up to less wealthy visitors, notably thanks to the ENT and lung cures for children initiated by a certain Doctor Jean Langénieux. In the summer, tourists also came to stay in the Haut Bréda valley, "attracted by cooler temperatures and more remarkable sites. They stayed in Pinsot and above all La Ferrière, where several hotels were built." (Monnet, 1927, p. 119)

Tourism also began to develop in the winter season, with the creation of the Collet d'Allevard winter sports resort in 1955 on former municipal pastures reserved for the summer pasturing of the collective herds of the Allevard community. The resort reached its current size in 1975, with 23 groomed ski runs totaling 35 kilometers, and 11 ski lifts. Le Collet d'Allevard is therefore a "traditional resort" (Knafou, 1978) with a ski area that was "grafted" to the periphery of the
existing town, but distant from the town center, already built around the thermal spa. In this
respect, winter sports arrived to complete the summer tourism, already considerable. Indeed,
the Pays d'Allevard was already a longstanding tourist area, and the new winter sports elements
were simply added on to the founding elements of its tourist identity based on the thermal spa.
The Pays d'Allevard can thus be considered a tourism destination where two main drivers
generate flows of visitors in the summer and winter seasons. The management of the destination
is largely "communo-centric" (Gerbaux et al., 2004), since as of 1997, the thermal spa has been
managed by a mixed public-private company, 80% owned by the municipalities of the Pays
d'Allevard, with Allevard owning the largest share; and the resort ski lifts are managed by a
multi-purpose inter-municipal organization (SIVOM).

However, these two tourism drivers face difficulties today. Lower reimbursements for thermal
cures by the French national health system have led to a drop in visitors to the spa, from some
12,000 spa-goers per year in the 1980s, mainly for respiratory tract treatments, to roughly 4000
spa-goers today, of which about 1200 come for respiratory treatments. The 2800 other spa-
goers come to treat rheumatological pathologies, a treatment orientation developed in the 1990s.
In addition to the drop in the number of visitors, this new treatment orientation has generated
an older clientele: while children previously represented the majority (they are the most
sensitive in terms of the respiratory tract), today there is a majority of elderly spa-goers coming
to treat rheumatological problems. As for the Collet d'Allevard ski resort, it is in the category
of resorts that are vulnerable to climate change and to the potential lack of snow in the coming
decades. It has not escaped the difficulties that all of the resorts in the northern French Alps are
facing today, namely an ageing stock of ski lifts along with the need to renovate
accommodations that have become obsolete and no longer satisfy the criteria of today's
clientele. It is also impacted by the fragmentation of holiday stays, with an increase in short
stays and excursions (Duhamel & Knafou, 2007). According to the local actors, the financial
situation of the Collet resort is difficult, despite 2.2 million euros in turnover in 2013 and
approximately 250,000 skier days each season.

The difficult local economic context aggravates this situation, with the de-industrialization of
the area that has led to lay-offs impacting nearly 70 families. This has forced the local public
actors to search for solutions to make local activity sustainable. They therefore chose to launch
a tourism diversification project to renew the attractiveness of the territory. To analyze this
process, we will present our theoretical framework, which is based on the sociology of
organized action.
## II. Tourism destination governance, territorial resources, and tourist identity

We believe that the theoretical framework of the sociology of organized action is a relevant tool to analyze the way local actors coordinate to launch the diversification of tourism in their territory. Indeed, it allows the analysis of the governance of tourist destinations, it being possible to consider the latter as a localized tourism system (Gerbaux et al., 2004; Gerbaux & Marcelpoil, 2006; Marcelpoil & Boudières, 2006) in which the actors pursue their own interests but must coordinate with each other (Friedberg, 1993) in order to allow the establishment of an organization as a destination. This theoretical framework also enables us to understand the way the actors in the destination confront a common problem<fnref n="4" />. Indeed, if a "problem" is sufficiently important to impose itself on different actors, the latter must often coordinate their actions to try to solve it, thus finding themselves in a situation of interaction.

In mountain destinations, at a time when Fordist tourism development models are running out of steam, the problem of the diversification of tourism is raised for the actors. Certain studies (Dissart, 2012; François, 2008; François et al., 2013; Savelli, 2012) have shown that this diversification is based on the activation of territorial resources, defined as "a characteristic built from a specific territory, with a development objective" (Gumuchian & Pecqueur). The territorial resource is latent, and owes its discovery and promotion to an interpretation by a portion of the individuals composing the society (Corrado, 2004). The territorial resource is thus born from the intentionality of the actors and their will to act; but above all it results from the coordination of these actors. "It is indeed the action of a group of actors around a production or a project that lays the foundation for the construction of the territory, along with the revelation and promotion of the territorial resources." (Dissart, p. 3). These studies highlight the key role played by the actors in the identification, "invention", and promotion of new tourism resources, and their capacity to transform these resources into levers for territorial development (Oiry-Vaccara, 2012). It is on the basis of these resources that the local actors organize among themselves in order to build a territorial project, and from the latter, an active entity (Leloup et al., 2005).

For tourism destinations, outdoor sports can be considered as a territorial resource (Falaix, 2012; Hautbois et al., 2011; Mao et al., 2009), in particular in the mountains (Bourdeau et al., 2002), making it possible to establish "an identification that is powerful to enough to fuel the tourism offer intended for potential vacationers" (Guibert, 2006a). To do so, it appears

<footnote n="4">⁴ The term"problem" should be interpreted here in the broad sense: it may be an obstacle to overcome, or also a project concerning different actors.</footnote>
necessary to transform a generic or latent resource into a specific resource that becomes a source of differentiation. When this process succeeds, outdoor sports become a source of profit (economic, tourism, media, etc.) for territories. They also contribute to the development of the tourist identity of the destination, whether it be in Aquitaine with surfing (Guibert, 2004), in the Alps with winter sports (Corneloup, 2007), in Corsica with nautical activities (Martel, 2008), or in Normandy with horse riding activities (Hautbois, 2008). However, the development of this tourist identity is not automatic, since it is produced by territorialized actors (Gumuchian et al., 2003) who project their own representations onto this space. These representations influence both their vision of what the usage of the location should be and the conceptions concerning its development (Gumuchian, 1991). This question of the establishment of a tourist identity is even more topical today in a context of territorial re-composition (Vanier, 2008) and of the development of inter-municipal cooperation in the tourism sector (Conseil national du tourisme, 2005). And yet, as illustrated by the example of hiking trail installation, community interests are often opposed to municipal interests, and identity stakes remain central to the decisions concerning inter-municipal cooperation (Haschar-Noé, 2009).

In the framework of this study, the objective is to analyze the involvement of the local actors when faced with the problem of tourism diversification and the constitution of a sport as a territorial resource. The organizational approach developed by Friedberg (1993, p. 21) va nous permettre to study "the organization processes through which the strategic interactions and behaviors of a certain number of actors are shaped, stabilized and coordinated – actors whose interdependence makes cooperation indispensable, but who all maintain a degree of independence." In his approach, individuals are considered as strategic actors whose behaviors express intentions and calculations. They pursue what they consider to be their interests, but to reach their objectives, they must sometimes obtain the contribution of other actors, and thus find themselves in a situation of interaction. According to Friedberg, the interaction processes linking the actors are founded upon a substrate of power. The latter is conceptualized as a relationship of negotiated exchanges of behaviors. He adds that relationships of power are not only conflictual, but "they always include a collusive dimension insofar as each actor, in order to improve his own position, tries to reduce his partners' possibilities of choice and contributes to the stability of the relationship." (Friedberg, 1993, p. 130). While Friedberg places power at the center of his research problem, this does not mean that everything only functions according to power, nor that power is the dominating motivation for the actors. It simply "highlights the simple but fundamental fact that by participating in an area of action, the actors, whether they like it or not, have stakes, whatever their nature." (Friedberg, 1997, p. 269).
Yet one cannot ignore the stakes and tensions inherent to the diversification process, since the arrival of a new activity on a site forces the actors to coexist socially and spatially, and this process may generate resistance (Rech *et al.*, 2009). This analysis must allow us to understand how sport is invoked or even instrumentalized by the actors in order to modify the tourist identity of a territory.

### III. Methodology

While certain studies prefer a quantitative approach to analyze the governance of tourism destinations (Baggio, 2011), we chose to use a qualitative methodology. We thus prefer an inductive approach, giving priority to the discovery of the area and to the development of local interpretation models close to this area and its specific features. In order to analyze the tourism diversification process in the territory, we carried out 15 semi-directive interviews<fnref n="5" /> (Bernard, 2012), each lasting from one to two hours. The interview guide used for these interviews focused on:

- the history of tourism development in the Pays d'Allevard;

- the actors, taking into account their strategies, objectives, interests and roles within the action context;

- the relationships between the actors: cooperation, conflict, absence of relationships;

- the forms of territorial development.

Based on these entirely transcribed semi-directive interviews, a qualitative analysis (Miles *et al.*, 2014) was performed. More precisely, a thematic analysis was used, consisting in "systematically proceeding with the identification, grouping together, and alternately, a discursive examination of the themes addressed in a corpus." (Paillé & Mucchielli, 2003). The themes were selected according to the theoretical framework and represented a stable analysis framework for all of the interviews. It was therefore a closed categorization procedure (Ghiglione & Matalon, 1998), since all of the themes had been identified prior to the analysis.

<footnote n="5">⁵ The actors interviewed were: the Allevard Mayor's Chief of Staff; the deputy mayor of Allevard in charge of sports and economic and tourism development; the third deputy mayor of the municipality of La-Chapelle-Du-Bard; the mayor of the municipality of Pinsot; the mayor of the municipality of La Ferrière; the "trail running station" steering committee chairman and member of the Saint-Pierre d'Allevard Town Council; a technician working for the Environmental department of Saint-Pierre d'Allevard; the manager of the Pays d'Allevard Tourist Office; an intern in charge of installing and animating the trail running station; the manager of the Thermal Spa in Allevard-les-Bains; the chairman of the "Bel'donne Running" association; a middle mountain guide, also a member of the board of directors of the Pays d'Allevard Tourist Office; and the "tourism" project manager for the group of municipalities of the Grésivaudan. Two actors external to the territory were also interviewed: the general manager of the Raidlight ® company behind the trail running station® concept, and the tourism manager for the Natural Regional Park of Chartreuse, a territory that installed the first trail running station®.</footnote>
#### IV. Trail running: a tourism resource?

The actors chose to position themselves around a fast-growing activity: trail running<fnref n="6" />, and launched a project to build a trail running station®. This concept, born in Saint Pierre de Chartreuse and invented by the manager of the Raidlight® company, involves the use of different tools: marked trails with different levels of difficulty, a trail running stadium with workshops to practice in, an indoor facility with showers and locker rooms, and a website. By launching this concept, the manager of Raidlight® aimed to "move closer to the places where our customers practice their sport to enable them to test our products, with lockers and locker rooms, and to offer them trails starting in our area." But the idea was also to set up the project within a sector that was already a tourist sector equipped with hospitality infrastructures, and to boost tourism by attracting athletes who would come for the trail running. The project was favorably received by the Chartreuse Natural Park, since, as the tourism manager for the Park explains, the territory wanted to be "identified as a center for outdoor activities, not only reserved to an elite, but more for the public at large." This concept of a trail running station® was then developed in other territories as part of a network. It is sold to local authorities on a turn-key basis for 40,000 euros.

The success of a major event, the "Echappée Belle" or Belledonne ultra-trail running race, a portion of whose itinerary passed through the territory, also contributed to the decision to install a trail running station® in the Pays d'Allevard. The race organizers and the local actors seized this opportunity to meet together and reflect on setting up a sustainable local trail running activity. In parallel, the Raidlight® company wanted to set up a new trail running station, linked to an initiative of the Isère General Council. This concomitance led to the decision to install the trail running station in the Pays d'Allevard.

##### a. The interests of the project's supporting actors

Once the decision had been made, a steering committee was created, headed by a trail running practitioner who was also an elected member of the Saint-Pierre d'Allevard Town Council. The committee's job was to reflect on the project's installation, coordinate the actors, and bring together tourism professionals with the elected officials from the canton of Allevard. Several

<footnote n="6">⁶ France boasts roughly one million regular trail runners. One million pairs of trail running shoes are sold each year, representing 10% of the running shoe market. 2600 trail running races are organized each year.</footnote>
local actors working in the tourism and sports sectors were among its members, including the chairman of the "Bel'donne Running" association, also an elected member of the Saint-Pierre d'Allevard Town Council, and a middle mountain guide, also a member of the Board of Directors of the Pays d'Allevard Tourist Office. The project's initiating actors were also practitioners, or even had a job linked with this activity, as the middle mountain guide confirmed: "I have a twofold involvement in this, since in addition I make my living from tourism." The involvement of this actor in the project may therefore be perceived as a conflict of interest, because it will help him to develop his clientele, which serves his own interest. As we will see later, this conflict of interest generates resistance from actors who believe that they will not benefit from the development of this new activity in the territory.

Other actors who were not involved in the origin of the project, showed support for the project, namely the owner of the La Martinette tourist lodge, and the high and middle mountain guides. The project was thus supported by actor-practitioners who had an interest in it. Their objective was to transform an athletic discipline into a tourism product, in order to benefit from the arrival of a new clientele. For example, the steering committee manager organizes beginning and advanced trail running clinics. Likewise, the La Martinette lodge owner proposes a multiple-day "trail runners' special offer" in partnership with certain middle mountain guides. Thus, as in Saint-Pierre de Chartreuse (Perrin-Malterre, 2015), the arrival of a new activity was perceived by the economic actors as a windfall enabling them to propose new sports service offers.

Sport is therefore considered here as a tourism resource that can boost the attractiveness of a territory. Indeed, according to the Tourist Office manager, the advantage of this project is to attract a population of trail runners who will spend several days in the territory, namely sports tourists who will contribute to the local economy and stimulate the small businesses, the accommodations, and all of the tourism professionals. The athlete is thus perceived as a consuming tourist. The creation of the trail running station® may also play a role to "capture" a wider clientele, allowing the other tourism structures to operate. Indeed, trail runners may come accompanied by their families or friends, who are not necessarily interested in trail running but may potentially consume other nature tourism or cultural products such as the iron and water trails located in the municipalities of Saint-Pierre d'Allevard and Pinsot, or the well-being and relaxation services offered by the thermal spa. The sport itself then becomes a focal point. As the middle mountain guide explains, "*Trail running is a niche product; and trail runners are independent. What I hope to do above all is to develop my activity as a guide with the people who accompany the runners.* I expect the activity to *attract people here with their*
families, who we can then occupy, be it for trail running, hiking, discovering nature, or
mountain biking." The goal is also to leverage the complementarity between thermalism and
trail running by offering the trail runners access to the Sport & Health center developed by the
spa for fitness programs. As in Mont Dore (Perrin-Malterre, 2014), the ambition is to harness
specific local features such as the thermal water and the hiking trails and promote them as
territorial resources.

The trail running station® project was also designed to modify the tourist image of the Pays d'Allevard, considered a tourism destination for "the elderly", due to the presence of the thermal spa and the number of elderly spa-goers. As the Tourist Office manager explains, "Today, the objective is to attract a younger, more athletic, more dynamic clientele, to rejuvenate our image and focus more on the surrounding mountains." Sport is thus used for communication and territorial marketing purposes. Therefore, as with other diversification or tourism reconversion projects focused on outdoor sports, "sports and leisure activities are integrated into a more global territorial project, and in a way instrumentalized, both as a positive image vector for the public and private actors, and as an economic development vector." (Haschar-Noé, 2008, p. 115). For the local officials, sport can even become a political resource, since, as Guibert (2006b, p.70) has shown, "becoming the mayor of a dynamic, young, forward-looking municipality definitely generates social and symbolic benefits that can be profitably reinvested in the local political arena, or even at a higher political level."

The final objective is to structure the territory and reinforce the links within the canton thanks
to an itinerant discipline that can be practiced throughout the Pays d'Allevard territory. This is
how the routes were designed, since they use trails in four municipalities in the Pays. (The
municipalities of Moutaret and Chapelle du Bard are not concerned by the project). Moreover,
even if the hospitality base is in Allevard, the goal is to install relay hospitality points in the
other municipalities. We therefore see that, with a concern for territorial equality, the objective
was not to concentrate the offer only in Allevard, already equipped with many tourist facilities.

b. Resistance to the project

Certain actors questioned the relevance of the project, as did this elected official: "As for this
orientation towards diversification, as though it will solve all of the problems on earth in our
rural world, I'm skeptical." Indeed, as the "tourism" project manager for the Grésivaudan
municipalities explains, "Within this diversification rationale, we will find no other activity that
could compensate for a strong drop in the skiing activity and maintain such a level of
employment." There is also a genuine divide between the actors who practice trail running and
those who do not. Indeed, the actors originally supporting the project are all trail runners, some with a good and even an excellent level, such as one of the actors who is a member of the Raidlight team and regularly participates in races. These actors therefore have an excellent knowledge of the activity. This is not the case of the rest of the tourism actors potentially concerned who do not feel engaged by this new activity, as illustrated in the comments of the spa manager: "I attended a meeting where they were all talking among themselves. I love to run myself, but as the manager of the thermal spa, their discussions of altitude difference, techniques, tracks, etc. don't interest me."

Furthermore, the perception of trail runners by the traditional tourism actors is not the same as that of the actors involved in the project. For the actors who trail run and are favorable to the project, trail running has a tourism potential. "Today trail running is something that attracts visitors. There are over 1 million practitioners in France, licensed or not, from beginners to experts. It's a sector that's constantly growing. And we know that these runners can come and consume in our territory." The traditional actors' perception is not the same. For them trail runners are still perceived as athletes who do not consume in the territory, not as tourists. They believe that the users of the trail running station, who have a high level in the discipline, will tend to come alone, will follow a very specific and even drastic diet, will not necessarily consume in the local restaurants, and will not feel the need to attend initiation or advanced clinics in the sport. This type of visitor does not generate any visible economic impacts. In this context, tourists who do not consume locally, which may apply to certain trail runners who limit themselves to simply running through a territory, are not considered good customers by the most of business owners. This explains why no traditional actor became involved in the project, since they saw no interest in it for them. Moreover, for some of them, this sport remained an unknown, and they felt that "Before trying things that we're not familiar with, let's try to work in the areas we know best." Thus, just like surfers on the coast of Aquitaine, trail runners are not necessarily welcome in the territory (Guibert, 2006a).

However, these resistances did not prevent the project from coming to life, in particular due to the presence of influential individuals on the steering committee. The latter represented a majority on the steering committee, and through their position, they succeeded in convincing the local officials to validate the project, despite the resistance of certain citizens. They notably emphasized that trail runners come with their families, thereby benefiting other tourism professionals: "Trail runners have several profiles, but if they come stay with us, they usually don't come alone. They often come with their families. And not everyone is a trail runner in the family. If it's the father, the mother and children will appreciate having access to other activities
such as hiking, sledding, horse riding." Since one of the actors was a member of the Raidlight team and knew the company manager very well, they provided him with a trail running station® economic impact assessment tool based on the model of Saint-Pierre de Chartreuse. At this station, the annual number of trail runners visiting the facility is estimated at 10,000. The number of people accompanying the runners is estimated at 50%, representing 5000 additional visitors. Taking into account the different profiles (independent practitioners, practitioners with instructors, participants in a trail running race), the economic impacts for the territory are estimated at 1.4 million euros, including both the expenditures directly linked to the activity (equipment, training courses) and those linked to tourism (food and lodging). The low level of initial investment required (€40,000) compared with other projects supported by public actors was also used as an argument. For example, in 2016, the association of municipalities invested €500,000 to renovate the Casino. The same year, the Collet d'Allevard intermunicipal association also invested 5.2 million euros to replace a chairlift. Thanks to these concrete figures, the committee was able to convince the local decision-makers of the advantages of installing a trail running station®.

Once the project had been validated by the mayors of the Pays d'Allevard municipalities, it was then presented to all of the tourism actors, and according to the chairman of the trail running station® steering committee, it was "fairly favorably received". The public actors then began to coordinate their actions in order to mobilize sources of financing to enable the installation of the trail running station® in spring 2014. The public actors therefore have relevance (Friedberg, 1993), which gives them a capacity for action, in particular to encourage the local actors to coordinate their actions, since, as the Allevard mayor's chief of staff explains, the trail running station® "is an empty shell. You have to make it come alive by creating products and doing enough advertising to ensure that people come to visit us. So we told them: 'The local authorities have launched the product; now it's up to you to develop it.' " And yet the project, although it has been completed, was far from reaching the adhesion of all of the territorial actors.

### c. Operating problems

Once the trail running station had been put in place, operational problems arose; first of all for financial reasons. Indeed, although the initial investments were made thanks to the relevance of the public actors, the reduction of grants from the French state to local authorities along with the latter's lower financial capacities prevented them from covering the trail running station's operating costs with the hiring of a coordinator, since as one of the actors explains: "If I don't have a person and a structure coordinating the trail running station, the station is useless."
One of the local officials confirms: "They don't even know how to keep it running. (...) The problem is that it is under-used, since in terms of communication, it isn't very easy to communicate about it, and very little is done." The public actors' capacity for action to enable people to work together is therefore weak. As the Tourist Office manager explains, "It's complicated to unite people around this project since they are all self-employed professionals and therefore they're always worried that someone else will be stealing their customers." Here again, we see the difficulties involved with structuring the outdoor sports market in a territory, since this market is essentially structured by independent professionals whose micro-mindsets influence their perception of the competition. Therefore "those who target growth objectives and identify others as rivals sometimes exaggerate the competitive pressure even when the latter is low at the local level." (Bouhaouala, 2001, p. 244).

Otherwise, certain actors criticize the fact that the trail running station is only focused on tourists, while ignoring the needs of the local population. As one elected official explained, "The product in its current state does not serve the territory; it doesn't serve the daily lives of the inhabitants. (...) To meet the demands of the local inhabitants, I think they should have thought about developing a more family-oriented product, even if it moved away a little from actual trail running; something slightly less technical, but that would encourage locals here to participate. In addition, this has been a recurring demand for many years." Here again, we see the dialectic between the perceived space and the experienced space: "Living in the territory all year round versus consuming the territory as a recreational and contemplative space as a nearby city-dweller." (Savelli, 2012, p. 2).

There is also a certain reluctance to modify the image of the tourism destination via a new sports activity. As the spa manager confirms: "They didn't understand that in Allevard, we are a family ski resort in the winter and a resort for the elderly in the summer. We don't have a "fun" image. (...) We are what we are, we must remain what we are." As in the resort of Super-Besse (Perrin-Malterre, 2014), we can observe disagreements concerning the positioning to adopt, making it difficult to construct a tourist identity for the destination. Logically, a certain resistance can be observed regarding the integration of the trail running activity in the destination's tourism communication policy. According to the spa manager, one must first analyze the specific features of the clientele already present, and then offer activities and events in line with this clientele. "Today we must accept that our (spa) clientele requires activities and events more in line with their age, and I recognize that for the Tourist Office it's not easy to develop activities for the elderly."
Finally, there were certain issues linked to the cooperation between the municipalities of the Pays d'Allevard. This was notably the case for the municipalities located in the Haut Bréda valley, Pinsot et la Ferrière, who find themselves isolated from the other four municipalities in the Pays d'Allevard. In addition, tourism is mainly concentrated in the lower portion of the valley, reinforcing this feeling of isolation. This two municipalities did not feel particularly concerned by the project. Concerning the municipality of Pinsot, the mayor had expressed his support for the integration of his municipality in the project. However, after the municipal elections in 2014, the new town council opposed the project, arguing that the project appeared to be non-viable in the medium term and that there was a lack of visibility. Here again, we encounter the question of the economic profitability of the activity, and the question is raised as to whether the trail runners will actually consume anything. This refusal to participate in the project is also the sign of a more widespread mistrust of the policy implemented by the Tourist Office in Allevard: "We feel that the Tourist Office essentially concerns Allevard. They totally ignore us, they take our "good money" as the saying goes, but they don't give anything back." This situation was similarly criticized by the deputy mayor of Chapelle du Bard: "We've realized that in Allevard, there's a small group of families that controls everything. They own a maximum number of things, and therefore are very powerful politically, with a mayor who's very intelligent to have put himself in a situation where he works for them and with them, which allows him to be re-elected. We thus have this little Allevard microcosm that's been financially benefiting from this situation for years, drawing on all of the possible and imaginable resources from the villages around it. That's how we feel in Chapelle du Bard." One can therefore see that the tensions between municipalities stem from the impression that there are inequalities within the territory in general and within the Pays d'Allevard Tourist Office association in particular. The imbalance between tourism initiatives applied mainly to the towns of Allevard and Saint Pierre d'Allevard and the municipalities that feel neglected, such as Pinsot, has led to the situation of a standoff within the Pays d'Allevard group of municipalities. This situation has impacted the trail running station® project, believed to be marginal and likely to generate very few economic returns. Today, the municipalities of Pinsot and La Ferrière have little desire to involve themselves in the projects developed by Allevard, whether in the field of tourism or in projects targeting the local population. They have created several connections with each other and work jointly in several areas, in particular to organize events in their territories, and they recently created a series of concerts in the summer season entitled "Les Nuits du Haut Bréda". In point of fact, within the tourism system in the Pays d'Allevard, the switch from a very compartmentalized tourism offer with thermal spa holidays in the summer season and skiing at
Le Collet in the winter season, to a four-season offer whose economic impacts are still hard to measure, has met with a certain reluctance from private and public actors. Many of these actors feel that trail running is an "elite" sport, involving athletes who consume little or nothing locally. This has not created favorable conditions for the construction of a genuine tourist identity or for the promotion of new tourism resources that could help renew the attractiveness of the territory. Finally, the implementation of this trail running station project highlights the obstacles to working collectively in a financial context that is difficult for local authorities.

## Conclusion

Just like other middle mountain destinations, the Pays d'Allevard is trying to maintain its attractiveness for tourists. To this aim, local officials chose to pursue a diversification based on outdoor sports. The objective of this paper was to analyze this process, by examining the involvement of the local actors and the ways in which they worked together to promote sport, and more precisely trail running, as a tourism resource. The results show that the actors supporting the diversification project all practice the sport in question, and therefore have an interest in its development. Thus, trail running was considered as a godsend by certain economic actors, enabling them to offer new services. Sport therefore becomes an economic resource, but also a communication and territorial marketing tool when the objective is to rejuvenate the image of the territory. These results are in line with those of other studies (Haschar-Noé, 2008; Guibert, 2006a; Perrin-Malterre, 2015) that also highlight this process of the instrumentalization of a sport when it is part of a broader territorial project. However, certain local elected officials question the relevance of this diversification project, whose economic impacts remain difficult to quantify. Moreover, this opposition to the development of a new sports activity within the destination illustrates the resonance of traditionalism (Corneloup et al., 2001) with respect to the management of a territory. Thus, as on other sites (Rech et al., 2009), resistances can be observed. And disagreements concerning the positioning to be adopted make it difficult to construct a tourist identity for the destination.

Therefore, an approach based on the governance of destinations makes it possible to reveal the weight of the local actors in the management of a territory. This case study thus illustrates the need to analyze the positioning of the actors and the stakes that underlie a tourism diversification project, in order to highlight the development potentials but also the resistance to change. The advantage of this approach for the field of research on sports tourism is to underline the way in which a sport is mobilized or even instrumentalized, with the aim to promote it as a tourism resource.
One of the limits of this case study is the difficulty to generalize these results with respect to other territories, since these are local interpretation models. However, other studies would make it possible to perform a comparison in order to make a classification of tourism destinations, but also to identify action levers and obstacles to change. Among those identified in this study, the estimation of the tourist and economic impacts of the new activity (trail running) appears essential. Therefore, one of the avenues of research should concern the assessment of the economic weight of such an activity in the territory. However, since the access to trail running routes is open and free of charge, it is difficult to assess the number of practitioners and the associated impacts. Yet since the project is supported by the local authority, this analysis appears necessary in the context of an evaluation of public policies. Moreover, as Bourdeau (2009) explains, the competitiveness of a territory should not just be seen in economic terms, but overall, integrating in particular the quality of the visitor's experience. Surveys of sports tourists therefore appear to be necessary.

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