Major source of wealth and job creation for mountain territories, mountain resorts have been facing, for several years, new economic, environmental and social challenges. Many professionals and researchers have insisted on the need for touristic destinations to move from a “financially myopic” view of performance to an overall view that encompasses “social and environmental activities” (Sainaghi et al., 2017: p.37) and blame a lack of performance management practises (Zehrer et al., 2016). Despite those challenges, performance management practises in the context of mountain resorts is still under-researched. This work seeks to fill that gap and contribute to a new approach of overall performance management for mountain resorts using Performance Measurement and Management Systems (PMMS). We focus solely on the design aspect of PMMS using Ferreira and Otley’s (2009) framework and its eight central features as analysis grid. Thus, this study aims to contribute to tourism performance literature by adapting this PMMS framework design to the context of mountain resorts. This work relies on a qualitative research methodology consisting of the study of four distinct resorts located in the French Alps. Data collection was made through a total of 55 interviews. Ferreira and Otley’s (2009) framework has proven to be quite relevant in studying our four cases. In particular, the strategy related features of the framework were perceived as very important as they played a central role in moving from a “touristic-only” performance to an “overall resort wide” performance. Also, the framework’s features related to performance measurement were perceived as essential. Thirdly, the feature organisation structures were perceived less important than the individuals in charge and their leadership. This observation, echoing some recent research works in tourism calling for a shift in focus from structures to leadership (Beritelli and Bieger, 2014), led us to propose an adapted version of the framework by adding a ninth key feature, namely the leadership network. We conclude that PMMS approach appears not only valid but also very relevant in helping mountain resorts manage their overall performance. Eventually, this research work reveals promising opportunities for further research, in particular in studying the link between PMMS features and actual overall performance of mountain resorts.
