Nordic national climate adaptation and tourism strategies – (how) are they interlinked?

ABSTRACT

The tourism sector is affected by climate change. Nordic tourism destinations have also experienced changes, such as changing precipitation patterns, lack of snow in winter and shifts in seasons. The sector has to implement adaptation strategies but it is unclear whether the current public climate policy is sufficient to support considering adaptation actions. We reviewed national climate strategies of the Nordic countries from the perspectives of tourism, but excluding the transport sector. We also reviewed Nordic national tourism strategies from the perspective of climate change, particularly the extent to which they address climate adaptation. We found out that the national climate strategies do not pay enough attention to tourism adaptation needs, nor do the national tourism strategies present adaptation actions that tourism actors could consider. To connect these national-level strategies, there is a need to review adaptation actions for tourism within the national adaptation framework supported by research based evidence. Next, by means of Nordic cooperation, guidance for both public and private tourism actors within and across Nordic countries can be provided. This can enhance the competitiveness and resilience of the Nordic tourism supply and contribute to the development of economically, environmentally and socially sustainable tourism in the region.

KEYWORDS:

• Nordic countries
• tourism management
• public policy
• climate change
• national adaptation strategies

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. With “tourism” we mainly mean the rather popular definition “voluntary holiday travel for pleasure and leisure”, which covers “domestic”, “inbound” and “outbound tourism” (see Hall & Lew, 2009, pp. 5–13). Quoting Lundmark and Müller (2010, p. 381), “[n]ature-based tourism in its widest sense incorporates all tourism that takes place in areas rich in natural amenities as well as activities connected to nature … ”

Additional information

Funding

The preparation of this publication has been supported by the Norden Top-level Research Initiative sub-programme “Effect Studies and Adaptation to Climate Change” through the Nordic Centre of Excellence for Strategic Adaptation Research (NORD-STAR).