Understanding tourism leaders’ perceptions of risks from climate change: an assessment of policy-making processes in the Maldives using the social amplification of risk framework (SARF)

Abstract

Coastal tourism destinations are highly vulnerable to climate change risks, including sea-level rise, inundation, and extreme weather events. While such risks pose major challenges to the sustainability of these destinations, they have been insufficiently examined in tourism research. This study uses the social amplification of risk framework as a basis for understanding how climate change risks are perceived and what processes lead to an amplification or attenuation of risk perceptions at management and governance levels. In the context of the extremely low-lying Maldives, 12 leading tourism stakeholders, including representatives of government, industry, and NGOs, were interviewed to gather empirical data on risk perceptions. Results indicate that, while climate change risks are amplified for international audiences, several factors lead to an attenuation of risks for domestic audiences. As a result, local tourism stakeholders are not immediately concerned, and adaptation measures are woefully inadequate to cope with future climate risks. Detailed reference is made to the policy inertia found, the conflicts inherent in playing down risk in order to attract jobs, profitable tourism investment and tourists, and the equally pressing need to stress risks in order to attract expertise and funds to enable adaptation policies to be designed and funded.

旅游领导者对于环境恶化风险的理解：采用社会风险放大理论对于马尔代夫政策制定过程的评估

海岸旅游目的地对于环境恶化风险的承受力很弱，这些风险包括海岸线上升、洪水和极端气候事件。这些风险对于区域的可持续发展构成了极大的威胁，但旅游研究对于它们的探讨还不足。本文以社会风险放大模型为基础，来研究管理者和政府对于气候变化的认知。在马尔代夫的低洼地问题上，12位旅游关键人物，包括政府、行业和非政府组织的代表参与了这次调查。结果显示：环境变化的影响对于国际旅游者来说被放大了，然而几种因素导致了国内旅游者对于风险认知的减弱。本文对于政策制定提供了具体的参考，低风险冲突可以吸引工作，旅游投资和旅游者。同样迫切需要强调风险，以吸引专业知识和资金使得政策能够顺利实施和被给予资金支持。

Keywords:

• social amplification of risk
• climate change
• adaptation
• perceptions
• Maldives

关键词:

• 风险社会放大
• 环境改变
• 采纳
• 认知
• 马尔代夫

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Professor David Weaver at Griffith University for his invaluable comments on this paper. The authors appreciate the support provided by the International Centre for Ecotourism Research, Griffith School of Environment and the Griffith Institute for Tourism, Griffith Business School to conduct this research. We also highly appreciate the Editor of Journal of Sustainable Tourism for his insightful comments.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aishath Shakeela

Dr Aishath Shakeela is a lecturer and researcher at Griffith Institute for Tourism, Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith University, Australia. Her research interests are in sustainable tourism, tourism and climate change, emotions in tourism, and tourism in small island destinations.

Susanne Becken

Dr Susanne Becken is a professor of sustainable tourism at Griffith Institute for Tourism, Griffith University, Australia, and an adjunct professor at Lincoln University, New Zealand. Her research interests include tourism and climate change, energy use, environmental policy, resilience, disaster management in tourism, and tourist behaviour.