Climate Change and Tourism - UNEP - Division of Technology ...

176 Climate Change and Tourism – Responding to Global Challenges
in consumer patterns and lifestyles, are more likely to adversely affect overall tourism demand as well
as demand for particular destinations.
The cumulative effect of direct and indirect impacts of climate change on tourism demand patterns
is anticipated to lead to wider impacts on many areas of economic and social policy in destinations,
such as employment and labour demand, housing, transport, and social infrastructure. Impacts on
the tourism sector would have implications for other economic sectors, such as agriculture supplying
tourism demand, handicraft industries and local small business networks that rely on tourism.
13.2 Adaptation to Climate Change
It is unmistakable that all tourism businesses and destinations will need to adapt to climate change in
order to minimize the risks and to capitalize upon the opportunities brought about by climate change in
an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner. The capacity of the tourism sector
to adapt to climate change is thought to be relatively high due to its dynamic nature and ability to
successfully respond to major challenges in the recent past (e.g., SARS, terrorism attacks in multiple
nations, the Asian tsunami, and extreme hurricanes seasons). The most vulnerable destinations (see
vulnerability ‘hotspots’ map in Figure 9.16) will nonetheless require assistance to adapt, particularly in the
Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS), where persistent poverty
and environmental needs are anticipated to exacerbate the adverse consequences of climate change,
and adaptive capacity is relatively low due to limited financial resources and technical knowledge.
Adaptive capacity also varies substantially both within stakeholder groups (e.g., between individual ski
area operators) and between stakeholder groups (e.g., between tourists and tourism business operators),
depending on financial resources, technical knowledge, capacity to move in most favourable areas or
not. Tourists have greater adaptive capacity than owners of a local resort, with the adaptive capacity
of tour operators somewhere in the middle of this spectrum. Many adaptation options do not uniquely
address the risks of climate change, but represent response to a broader range of climate (e.g., weather
extremes, water shortages) and non-climate factors (e.g., general diversification of markets and revenue
sources, fuel prices, general commitment to sustainability). The tourism sector must also be cognisant
of the implications of climate change adaptation in other economic sectors. As the financial sector
incorporates a company’s climate change strategy, or lack of one, into its investment criteria, it will
influence credit rating and insurance rates.
The causes of climate change are global, however impacts are largely experienced locally and as such
these costs cannot just be borne by those affected, especially as those worst affected are likely to be those
less able to take action to cope with the changes (e.g., developing countries and local tourism SMMEs).
Therefore these costs also need to be addressed by governments and international organisations. The
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for action by the international community on
climate change to be taken in close coordination with action on poverty alleviation and the Millennium
Development Goals. The IPCC further contends that there are significant synergies that can be exploited
in bringing climate change to the development community and critical development issued to the
climate change community, considering especially that until now few discussions about promoting
sustainable development have included climate change adaptation. There is an important opportunity
for the tourism sector to show leadership in the development of coherent policy agenda that integrates
both development and climate change perspectives.
“We cannot achieve a meaningful response to climate change by acting alone. No one can. No
single organization. No single sector. Only by working together – as a united travel and tourism
force – can we make a difference.”
UNWTO, 9 July 2008
Peter de Jong, President of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (2007)