Sustainable Tourism Law

382 SUSTAINABLE TOURISM LAW Otherwise the responsibility will remain with special mountain rescue services. These companies shall justify that they have competent employees and appropriate materials to carry out such safety missions. The French legislator further intended to promote and improve electronic communications in mountain areas. Indeed, communications operators are reluctant to set up communication networks in such areas. The act begins by encouraging their intervention through a fiscal incentive. It then obliges them to offer access when a reasonable demand is made by customers. It should be observed that all these public services are primarily intended for the local populations. However, at the end of the day, they will also indirectly benefit tourists in terms of security and well-being. e) Prospective observations The recent legislation relating to themountain areas and in particular theMountain Act II clearly adopted a new approach to the way we perceive environmental and ethical considerations for the development of a sustainable tourism in mountains. The French legislator revealed its awareness of tourism changes. Despite a notable change of methodology and a more respectful approach, criticism is still being made against the recent legislation. It is always demanding to find a balance between tourism development on the one hand and environmental protection and ethical concerns on the other hand. This was again illustrated in a recent decree adopted for the transport of persons to tourist restaurants at altitude by snowmobile 18 . Before that decree, it was an offence to use snowmobiles for reasons other than professional (i.e. such as transport of goods). 19 Now, itwill bepossible to transport peoplewith snowmobiles, under certainconditions (and in particular following a special authorization). This was clearly done to organise tourist access to such restaurants, provided that the machine is driven by a professional (not the customer), the itinerary respects the environment (the fauna and flora), no stops are made on the way and the machine is not used after 11 pm. Finally, the mountain appears to be the first territory in France where awareness for sustainability in tourism development was perceived, even before the adoption of the code of ethics by the UNWTO. Nevertheless, progress still needs to be made to attain an effective sustainable tourism law in the French mountain territories. 18 Decree n°2016-1412 of 21 October 2016. 19 Contraveners were always sued before criminal courts; see for instance, Cass. Crim. 23 Nov. 1999, n°98-88010.