The Mountain Tourism Fresco - A climate education game for tourism stakeholders in the Alps
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from HES-SO Valais Wallis has co-created an innovative game addressing climate challenges in mountain destinations linked to tourism. This innovative tool, inspired by the well known “Climate Fresk,” offers a dynamic gameplay that visualizes local-level climate change causes, effects, adaptation, and mitigation measures. Based on scientific data, it calls on collective intelligence and playful spirits to initiate action for transition in Alpine regions.

What issue does your project address, and why do you want to tackle it?
The Mountain Tourism Fresco raises awareness about climate change implications in alpine destinations and promotes behavioral change. Our project addresses both adaptation and root causes of tourism-related emissions (including inbound/outbound tourism, construction, food, equipment). In this game, participants actively engage to increase their climate literacy and co-create solutions for their tourism destination.
What is your project about and how does it make tourism in the Alps future-proof?
Facilitators teams explore cards representing climate change causes and impacts. They collaboratively place these cards on a tourism map, revealing real life cause-effect and adaptation-mitigation relationships. The game concludes with participants defining a shared transition vision and selecting specific climate solutions. The map visualizes climate action concretely, at a local level and in a visual and personalized way, turning them into future-proof climate actors in tourism destinations.
How do you measure your project's success?
The success of our project can be measured by the number of participants and facilitators, their level of engagement and understanding before and after their participation, and the practical actions resulting from the game. The variety of destinations, institutions and mix of stakeholders through which it will be developed and disseminated is also an indicator of success. A follow-up survey will evaluate these indicators to assess the impact of the Fresk.
Who are the people behind the project and what is your secret to a great collaboration?
We are an interdisciplinary team of social scientists, engineers, energy and tourism managers affiliated with various institutes at HES-SO Valais-Wallis, active in applied scientific research and consultancy. Our secret to great collaboration lies in a unique blend of inter- and transdisciplinary expertise rooted in co-creation methods and social innovation, applied to tourism sustainability and the energy transition.



