From Nature Based-tourism to Eco-tourism Governance in the Anthropocene: The Case of Stelvio National Park in Face of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics

The new scenario outlined by the Anthropocene and the Covid-19 pandemic is forcing parks and protected areas to develop new forms of governance. The melting of glaciers and the reduction of biodiversity, among other effects of global warming, pose new challenges to these territories and parks, that have now become central actors in defining adaptation strategies. In this context, the chapter analyzes the case of Stelvio National Park, in the Italian Alps, a mountain protected area that is today witnessing the effects of the Anthropocene. Ongoing environmental changes not only threaten the main element of the protected area, namely nature, but also impact the local socioeconomic system, mainly based on winter tourism. This situation today requires a step change and the assumption of a new role by the Park in order to face the challenges imposed by the climate crisis. A series of interviews were therefore conducted with local tourism stakeholders (local tourism promotion bodies, Mountain Communities, associations, local administrations and private companies) with the aim of understanding what contribution the Stelvio National Park will play in local tourism management both today and in the future. The starting point was a research question that aimed to understand how protected areas can contribute to addressing the crisis of winter tourism that characterizes mountain territories today. What emerges is the need to involve the Park more actively in local government, to encourage a broader reflection, which questions the role that a protected area must play in promoting sustainable development and a new responsibility and awareness on the part of those who experience, in different ways, the mountains. This reflection is even more important today, in view of the 2026 Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, which will affect the Alpine arc and the Stelvio National Park, constituting a unique opportunity to convey this new function of protected areas.