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98 Climate Change and Tourism – Responding to Global Challenges
The Stern Review 494 highlighted that it is more economical to take measures that are proactive rather
than reactive and also to favour no-regrets measures. ‘No regrets’, preventive measures, whilst they
may not be sufficient on their own, are consistent with sound environmental management and wise
resource use, and are thus appropriate responses to natural hazards and climate variability, including
extreme events. Proactive, no-regrets measures are beneficial and cost effective, even in the absence of
climate change. They are also in line with the precautionary principle. Examples of proactive measures
include:
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raise awareness and educate tourists and operators of potential hazards and what to do in the case
of an extreme event (rather than dealing with stranded passengers, damage control and negative
media coverage);
analyse potential changes in tourist flows and adapt products, marketing and positioning (rather
than waiting for arrival numbers to decline);
strengthen the enabling environment for tourism adaptation measures (e.g., provide incentives for
investment into adaptation or facilitate administration);
‘climate-proof’ tourism policies and regulations (e.g., distance of buildings from the shoreline,
building standards, food hygiene, staff training);
integrate the tourism sector into other government policies, for example in the area of environmental
impact assessment, disaster management or land use planning (to ensure best fit of these policies
with tourism’s needs);
include disaster and adaptation responses in tourism training curricula;
locate new tourist facilities in low-risk areas to avoid the negative impacts of a disaster and also
the risk of poor investment;
promote environmental management practices to protect natural ecosystems, and use efficiently
scarce natural resources;
strengthen relations between tourism facilities, operators and local communities, to collaborate in
preventive and mitigating actions and response to extreme events.
Box 16: Facilitating adaptation in the tourism community
Awareness of climate change adaptation among local tourism operators has generally been found
to be relatively low. 495, 496, 497, 498, 499, 500, 501, 502, 503 Consequently, there is a real need for
effective communication between the climate change science community and tourism operators
at the regional and local scale. The South West Climate Change Impacts Partnership in England
developed an outreach brochure that explained to tourism business owners how climate change
affects their business and provides a checklist for planning for climate change impacts. 504 Similar
regionally specific initiatives, perhaps in conjunction with climate change adaptation workshops,
would be highly valuable in many other tourism destinations.
Examples of adaptation measures and their potential barriers are shown in Table 9.6.
UNWTO, 9 July 2008