Tourism and Climate Change

Book excerpt: Climate change is the single most important global environmental and development issue facing the world today and has emerged as a major topic in tourism studies. Climate change is already affecting the tourism industry and is anticipated to have profound implications for tourism in the twenty-first century, including consumer holiday choices, the geographic patterns of tourism demand, the competitiveness and sustainability of destinations and the contribution of tourism to international development. Tourism and Climate Change: Impacts, Adaptation and Mitigation is the first book to provide a comprehensive overview of the theory and practice of climate change and tourism at the tourist, enterprise, destination and global scales. Major themes include the implications of climate change and climate policy for tourism sectors and destinations around the world, tourist perceptions of climate change impacts, tourism’s global contribution to climate change, adaptation and mitigation responses by all major tourism stakeholders, and the integral links between climate change and sustainable tourism. It combines a thorough scientific assessment of the climate-tourism interrelationships with discussion of emerging mitigation and adaptation practice, showcasing international examples throughout the tourism sector as well as actions by other sectors that will have important implications for tourism. Written by three leading academics in this field, this critical contribution highlights the challenges of climate change within the tourism community and provides a foundation for decision making for both reducing the risks, and taking advantage of the opportunities, associated with climate change. This comprehensive discussion of the complexities of climate change and tourism is essential reading for students, academics, business leaders and government policy makers.