摘要：The authors analyze the link between two distinct phenomena that areincreasingly related in Italian Alpine localities: tourism development and foreignimmigration. Special attention is paid to asylum seekers, who have gradually startedto repopulate mountain localities, following the policy decision to distribute migrantsacross the whole national territory. After an introductory analysis, the article focuseson two good practices of welcome initiatives that, while experimenting innovativesocial inclusion strategies in the tourism domain, have managed to overcome theemergency rationale that inspires most reception policies. Thanks to their embeddednessin local communities, the selected organizations have restored mountain trails, revitalizedmountain agriculture through innovative crops and committed to the promotion ofa welcome culture through sensitization activities. Based on the good practicesinvestigated, the authors’ hypothesis is that some of the “forced highlanders” couldbecome “highlinders by choice”, contributing to the survival and the sustainabilityof the tourism system, put at risk by the population decline and ageing of localinhabitants. Adequate policies are however needed to fulfil this hypothesis on a widerscale and to pave the way for the transformation of welcome initiatives into developmentopportunities for receiving communities. Welcome policies should reject the logic ofplacing large numbers of recipients in abandoned barracks and residences and theselection and financing mechanisms of managing entities should be redefined so asto select managing organizations that are rooted at the local level and draw on theparticipation of different stakeholders of the receiving community in their governingbodies.
关键词：rifugiati; turismo sostenibile; sviluppo locale partecipativo; impresa
sociale; economia dell’accoglienza; migranti stranieri.
