Experiencing pressures: the transition of ski resorts into year-round sustainable mountain destinations

The ski resort industry faces increasing challenges due to the impact of climate change, pushing many resorts to rethink their traditional operations. This article examines the transition of ski resorts into sustainable and year-round mountain resorts, and how isomorphic pressures (normative, coercive, and mimetic) influence this transition. Using a qualitative exploratory research methodology and focusing on ski resorts in the Alps in Austria, France, Italy, and Switzerland, this study engages at the nexus of sustainable tourism, institutional theory, and transition theory. Our findings show that ski resorts are reaching a high-maturity synergy phase of market transformation. While isomorphic pressures differ through the phases of sustainable market transformation, normative pressures (based on intrinsic and extrinsic factors) play the dominant role in the transformation. Resorts change from just complying to legislation to being leaders and innovators in sustainability involving local communities.