Tourism, Climate Change and Development - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 353

remains rudimentary (Biggs et al. , 2012; Scott et al. , 2008, 2012b). Climate
change is slowly entering into decision-making of a range of tourism stake-
holders (e.g. investors, insurance companies, tourism enterprises, govern-
ments, development organisations, national park and conservation agencies
and tourists). Studies that have examined the climate change risk appraisal
of local tourism officials and operators have consistently found relatively low
levels of concern and little evidence of long-term strategic planning in antici-
pation of future changes in climate (Scott et al. , 2008). This is especially the
case for smaller operators whose immediate focus is business survival rather
than the state of their long-term environment (Tervo-Kankare et al. , 2013).
In many cases, adaptation and mitigation measures only occur because of
government regulation and/or financial incentives (Su et al. , 2013).
Considering that the large information requirements, policy changes and
investments required for effective adaptation by tourism destinations will
require decades to implement in some cases, the process of adaptation must
commence now for destinations anticipated to be among those impacted by
mid-century (Scott et al. , 2008). However, given the wider social and eco-
nomic pressures generated by climate change in developing countries (World
Bank, 2012), to allocate scarce national resources to tourism destinations
may be a significant policy challenge for many governments. Development
organisations in particular will need a greater understanding not only of the
implications of climate change for the sustainability of tourism products and
supporting services at the destination (e.g. coastal zones, coral reefs, water
supply, heritage assets), but also the implications of emerging climate policy
regimes for the relative cost and accessibility. Most importantly, a more criti-
cal perspective is required as to whether tourism will be the best develop-
ment alternative.
Conclusions: Travel Now, Pay Later?
Many of the less wealthy countries in the tropics, and in particular island
states, depend on international tourism for a large share of their GDP and
foreign exchange earnings. UNWTO, UNEP and WMO (2008) estimate that
that the total number of international arrivals to LDCs corresponded to
approximately 0.9% of all international tourist trips made in 2005. However,
as trips from industrialised countries to the least developed countries are usu-
ally long-haul, the share of distances travelled and emissions associated with
these trips is higher, amounting to 4.7% of the transport volume (measured
in passenger kilometres) and 4.6% of the CO 2 emissions caused by interna-
tional tourist air transport. Similarly, a number of island states have a
growing emphasis on cruise ship tourism that also has significant emissions
(Scott et al. , 2012b). For example, over half of cruise ships that depart US ports
have the Caribbean as a destination.