Climate change and tourism - responding to global challenges

This document notes the vulnerability of tourism sector to climate change and the impacts of tourism on climate itself. It suggests a way forward in terms of mitigation and adaptation for tourism policy-makers and managers in order to foster the sustainable growth of the industry.

The paper suggests that the impacts of climate change on the tourism sector will steadily intensify, particularly under higher emission scenarios:

• climate change would redistribute climate resources for tourism geographically and seasonally and poses a risk to ecosystems worldwide
• the nature and intensity of climate change impacts will differ for tourism destinations around the world
• the most vulnerable regions are in developing countries, which generally also have less adaptive capacity, and this will be a particular challenge for their tourist destinations and their host communities
• climate change impacts on the tourism sector could influence other economic sectors, such as agriculture and local business networks supplying tourism
• conversely, the tourism sector must also be cognizant of the implications of climate change adaptation in other economic sectors, which could have significant impacts on tourism

The climate change mitigation potential is thought to be relatively high in the tourism sector because efforts to lower energy consumption and GHG emissions in the sector are still largely in their infancy. The report suggests that:

• several combinations of strong efforts, including decoupling of the growth of tourism from the growth of tourism transport volumes and technological innovation, may significantly reduce emissions in 2035, without jeopardizing the growth of world tourism in number of trips or guest-nights
• regardless of the success to reduce GHG emissions by the international community, there will undoubtedly also be costs associated with climate change adaptation
• these costs cannot be borne solely by those affected, especially as those most affected are likely to be those less able to take action to cope with the changes

There is an important opportunity for the tourism sector to show leadership in the development of a coherent policy agenda that integrates both development and climate change perspectives.