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This paper traces the touristic trajectories of three spectacular gorges located in the Alpine foreland and the southern Jura: the gorges of the upper Rhône (Ain/Haute-Savoie), the Sierroz (Savoie) and the Fier (Haute-Savoie). All three are located within a distance of 50 km from each other. The upper Rhône gorge, already famous at the end of the eighteenth century, was drowned under the floodwaters of the Génissiat dam in 1948; only a significant iconography remains of two centuries of (geo)tourism. The Sierroz gorge, close to the spa resort of Aix-les-Bains, became famous after the dramatic and tragic death in 1810 of a young noblewoman. Following that event many tourists staying on the shore of the lake Bourget visited the gorge until 1970 when it was closed to the public. Since then, the gorge has gradually become a touristic wasteland. The Fier gorge near Annecy became a tourist attraction in 1869 with the opening of the nearby railway station of Lovagny; since then, visitors have been attracted to it in increasing numbers. The history of these three gorges illustrates how tourism and heritage are in constant interaction; however, the development of the one will not always ensure the protection of the other. Today, geoheritage assessment is based upon criteria that are as objective as is possible. The intrinsic geological and geomorphological characteristics are the initial geoheritage values, to which can be added the cultural value elements. Associated with the development of geotourism and geoparks, this new approach should ensure a better and sustainable use of these sites in the long term.

RésuméLa question du rapport entre tourisme et territoires peut s’envisager par les marqueurs spatiaux générés par l’activité touristique. Parmi ces marqueurs spatiaux, les toponymes sont à la fois d’accès facile et très révélateurs des représentations associées à un espace de pratiques de loisirs. Le développement et la réorganisation des stations de sports d’hiver dans les Alpes françaises se sont traduits par une riche production néo toponymique qui s’applique désormais aux grands domaines skiables nés de l’interconnexion entre les stations. L’analyse de ces néo toponymes et de leur fabrique nous renseigne sur le statut même des territoires, et sur la tentation de la privatisation de l’espace touristique par l’irruption des marques dans la toponymie. L’étude tend à montrer que ces néo toponymes, dans leur temporalité propre, désignent davantage des liens que des lieux au sens traditionnel du terme, et que ces liens peuvent être constitutifs d’autant de territoires fonctionnels.

Glacier landscapes attract millions of tourists every year; however, climate change induces alterations in these popular destinations. Although landscape changes can affect visitor behaviour, very few studies have investigated their impact on tourism. This study investigated how recent changes in the most-visited French glacier, the Mer de Glace (Chamonix, Mont Blanc massif), influenced tourist judgments and dissatisfaction. The methodology comprised a qualitative analysis, which was performed by interviewing tourists, supported by a quantitative survey. Despite the landscape being severely affected by climate change, the results revealed that the visitor's dissatisfaction level remained low. Nonetheless, the glacier is negatively perceived owing to changes in length, colour, and size. In addition, factors such as the glacier tongue covered by debris, lack of snow, dryness, desolation, and ‘degraded nature’ have adversely impacted the landscape's aesthetics. A linear regression analysis demonstrated that tourists' motivation to visit, estimation of the retreat rate of Mer de Glace, and living in France or abroad significantly predicted landscape dissatisfaction. Moreover, the results revealed that up to 30.2% of the respondents might not visit the site if glacier visibility was hindered, which is the likely situation within the next 30 years. Consequently, solutions that tourism operators can implement include reorganising marketing resources and focusing on the glacier as a resource for climate-change interpretation.