Summary
These days, climate change has become one of the most urgent questions, especially for sectors that are dependent on the environment, such us tourism, for example: “weather and climate have a strong influence on the tourism” (Scott, 2003, p. 1).
This paper presents and discusses the issues concerning the relationships between the climate change and particular touristic destinations and the impact of the global climate change on hospitality sector. In order to justify the importance of the subject, we analyzed several researches concerning this problem.
Thus, some research focus on the cost of climate change for the tourism industry (World Tourism Organization, 102). Other researches (Gaita, Both, 2007; Mouaffalo, 2007) focus on the “the translation of the global debate on tourism and climate change into the discourses of local tourist stakeholders” and “importance of the Tourism and Hospitality sector for American economy”.
A number of researches (Amelung, Nicholls, Viner, 2007; Micioni, 2009; Goodwin and Walmsley, 2010) argue that tourism is an industry directly dependant on climate.
Introduction
Global climate change has a great impact on tourism and hospitality all over the world. Dr. Daniel Scott (2003) mentions that “our understanding of the potentially profound impacts of global climate change on the tourism sector remains equally limited” (1).
Thus, a closer look should be provided on this issue, as the climate change can cause economical, socio cultural and environmental changes in the areas which economy is dependent on tourism. In this regard, “going green has become the “it” topic of the past several years and continues to gain traction” (Micioni, 2009, p. 4). The climate changes can cause shifts in some components of the tourist industry.
Gaita and Both (2007) provide the idea that “it is urgent to face climate change as one of the greatest challenges…” (p. 2). Consequently, a serious attention should be paid to this issue, but the international community still does not gives a closer look to the problem.
The aim of this research is to follow what consequences a global climate change can have on tourism and hospitality and what areas of this industry suffer the greatest changes.
Main body
These days, climate change going through the phase of considerable changes that influences negatively on the Hospitality and Tourism industry. These activities compose the biggest industries all over the world and for many regions present the first source of income, but, “it is still surprisingly noticeable that the Hospitality and Tourism literature pays little attention to climate and climatic change” (Mouaffalo, 2007, n. pag.)
The causes of climate change are global, however, impacts are also experienced locally (World Tourism Organization, 2008, 102). Thus, due to the economic significance of this industry, climate changes that, “have significant consequences for the earth’s biodiversity” (Goodwin and Walmsley, 2010, p. 2) can influence economic, social and environmental stability of particular regions.
They can lead to the “the lost of profit due to the inefficient use of resources and facilities” (Mouaffalo, 2007, n. p.). Changes in the environment can cause the shifts in the tourist locations, and such elements as too high temperature can influence negatively the tourist satisfaction.
The reduction of the flow of tourists leads to closure of many facilities which serve as work places for local people, as a consequence, many people can lose jobs.
The effect of the climate changes “will depend greatly on the flexibility demonstrated by institutions and tourists”. (Amelung, Nicholls, Viner, 2007, p. 1). A significant step in this direction was made in 2003 during the first International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism in Djerba (Mouaffalo, 2007, n. p.).
As a result of this conference, the World Tourism Organization took a decision to raise the interest of the international community to relationships between climate change and tourism.
Though, the international community pays some attention to the issue, there are still some limitations that prevent the forecasting of the consequences of the climate changes for tourism, as “little attempt has been made to increase consumer understanding of the impacts is holidays” (Hares, Dickinson, and Wilkes, 2010, p. 466). The main limitation is that it is hard to identify the local effect of the global warning and other climate changes.
Conclusion
The problem of the climate change and its influence on tourism and hospitability deserves high attention of the international community. The phenomenon of the climate change affects all major activities in the economies of separate countries, as well as in the world economy.
Though, according to Srefan Gossling (2009), “an increasing number of destinations now plan to become “carbon neutral” (p. 17), the main task of the international community is to focus attention on the impact of the climate change on separate tourist locations and find solutions to the problem.
Recommendations
One of the ways to overcome negative consequences of the climate changes is to unite forces and find common decisions to the problem. In particular, as Amelung, Nicholls, Viner (2007) suggest, “developed countries should provide assistance to less developed countries in order to enhance their adaptive capacity for climate change through various funding mechanisms.”(p. 1)
List of References
Amelung, B., Nicholls, S., and Viner, D. (2007). Implications of Global Climate Change for Tourism Flows and Seasonality. Journal of Travel Research, 45 (3), 285-296.
Gaita, R., Both M. Climate change and local awareness: a comparative study on tourism stakeholders in Zandvoort (NL) and Costa del Sol (ES). Web.
Hares, A., Dickinson, J., and Wilkes, K. (2010). “Climate change and the air travel decisions of UK tourists”. Journal of Transport Geography, 18: 466-473.
Goodwin, H. and Walmsley, A. (2010). Indulging Indulgence – Tourism, Carbon Offsetting and Climate Change. Web.
Gossling, S. (2009). “Carbon neutral destinations: a conceptual analysis”. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 17(1): 17-37.
Micioni, C. W. (2009). “Going green in the hospitality industry” UNLV Theses/Dissertations/Professional Papers/Capstones. Paper 642. Web.
Mouaffalo, H. (2007). The Real impact of Climate Change on Hospitality and Tourism In US. Memoire Online. Web.
Scott, D. (2003). Climate Change and Tourism in the Mountain Regions of North America. 1st International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism Djerba, Tunisia. Web.
World Tourism Organization, United Nations Environment Programme. (2008). Climate Change and Tourism: Responding to Global Challenges. Madrid, UNEP/Earthprint.