Evolution and change of winter tourism. How seasonality affects the economy of Lombardy’s Mountain Communities on the Olympic Road (Milano-Cortina 2026)

Using municipal data on tourist overnight stays, this paper examines tourist seasonality of Lombardy’s Mountain Communities (CCMM) over the last 15 years. In detail, based on the geographical location proximity on the Olympic Road of Milano-Cortina 2026 winter edition, twelve Mountain Communities have been selected. Using widely known statistical indexes, the seasonality of the selected mountain communities was represented. The analyses confirm the presence of two types of seasonality in Lombardy: a growing summer seasonality driven by the lakes and a bi-seasonal one, which appears mostly in the Alpine and pre-Alpine areas, characterized by declining winter tourism flows relatively to the rest of the year. Exploiting the legacy of Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic event, this study intends to offer a contribution to the deseasonalization policies to be implemented in mountain areas.