Tourism, climate change and adaptation: a review

Abstract

The relationship between tourism and changing climate has been discussed and studied for a relatively long time in tourism research. Over the past 15 years, more focused studies have begun to appear, and especially recently, the issue of adaptation has been emphasised as an urgent research need in tourism and climate change studies. This paper is based on a systematic review of the tourism and adaptation literature prior to 2012. It discusses adaptation challenges, the dimensions of vulnerability in a tourism context and the implications of such studies on communities. By dividing the current adaptation studies into business; consumer; destination; and policy- and framework-focused theme areas and traditions, the paper concludes that adaptation studies in tourism have so far had a limited focus on community perceptions, which in general has been an area of major interest in tourism research. More emphasis on community-based research in relation to tourism and climate change allows highly contextual adaptation challenges to be met in a more sustainable way.

Keywords:

• climate change
• adaptation
• tourism
• community studies
• vulnerability

Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Academy of Finland through “CLICHE: Impacts of climate change on Arctic environment, ecosystem services and society” - project which is part of the Finnish Research Programme on Climate Change (FICCA).