Climate and Tourism

7/28/2019 Climate and Tourism

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Climate and tourism

PARIS It is often said that farmers are on the front lines dealing withglobal warming, their livelihoods being extraordinarily dependent on the

weather. But tour operators and resort owners are not far behind.

Imagine a ski resort whose chairlifts are in the lower reaches of mountains,without decent snow. Or a scuba club whose reefs succumbed to warmerand stormier seas. Or a golfing hotel in a district where water shortagesmade it impossible to keep fairways green. All are real possibilities,industry experts say, and in fact, early effects are already being felt.

And so, this month, the United Nations convened a conference, "ClimateChange and Tourism," for tour operators and officials from nearly 100countries to discuss the impact of global warming on their livelihoods. "The

tourism industry must adapt rapidly," the final report concluded.

"The entire tourism product will be affected - every destination has aclimate-related component," Geoffrey Lipman, assistant secretary generalof the UN World Tourism Organization, said by telephone from themeeting, held in Davos, Switzerland. If the climate is going to change,"which we know it will, we'd all better adapt," he said.

"Some people are going to find that they had tourism before and don'tnow," Lipman said. "In the Canadian Rockies it may be the reverse."

In the developed world, tour operators do not generally face a crisis, thoughprofits will depend on successful adjustment. But along the equator,keeping the tourist industry afloat is often a matter of national survival. Inmuch of Africa for instance, tourism is the major source of income andoften the only source of foreign currency.

Yet there is a heavy cost. With the industry's reliance on cars and buses, air-conditioning and especially air travel, tourism is a major source of warminggasses. It accounts for about 5 percent of the world's carbon dioxide

emissions, the Davos conference concluded. And poor countries normallydo not have the money to make any eco-friendly changes.

"It's nice to talk about reducing air travel but many nation states depend onit," said Lipman, of the UN tourism organization. "Think about whathappens to New Zealand and Australia. More important, what happens to


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poor countries - the Maldives, Seychelles and Africa - who need it because itis the only way to get tourists in."

Recognizing that tourism and climate change are intimately intertwined,Fiji combined its Ministries of the Environment and Tourism this summer.

"Tourism is the vehicle for poverty alleviation in Fiji - that's how importantit has become," said Banuve Kaumaitotoya, permanent secretary of Fiji'snew Ministry of Tourism and Environment, who attended the Davosconference. "Without it, our economy would collapse. So we have to plan tomitigate and adapt to climate change."

For some destinations, both warm and cold, climate change is alreadyhaving an impact on tourism and planning.

In Fiji more frequent storms that scientists say are caused by warming areeroding mountains and driving dirt and fresh water into the sea. Thatthreatens to erode pristine beaches, and endangers coral reefs which needconsiderable salt in the water.

Fijian planners are trying to gauge the course of such change and set newstandards, like guideline for how far above the water bungalows should be

built to be safe if the sea level rises. "At the moment the effect is subtle, butwe don't want our reefs - our island - to disappear," Kaumaitotoya said.

At the Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort in Canada, glaciers are receding andgood snow is found higher up the mountain than 10 years ago. "We've beenbuilding lifts higher, in more snow-reliant zones to give us more stability,"said Arthur De Jong, the mountain planning and environment resourcemanager at the resort.

Ski lifts last 25 years, De Jong said. To decide where to place new ones, theresort has run a mix of computer simulations to try to determine where thesnow will be depending on varying calculations of how much thetemperature might rise over 30 years.

In addition, the resort has a broader green plan. It is making energy to runthe lifts from snow runoff on the mountain. Its ski village is car free. Andthe resort has diversified from snow and it now has a booming summer

business as well.


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But undertaking new engineering projects and computer simulations takemoney and expertise that are in short supply in much of the world.

"Adaptation is expensive and the finances are a big challenge for place likeKenya," said Judith Gona, executive director of Ecotourism Kenya, which is

trying to make that country's travel industry greener.

"In recent years Kenya has become a mass tourism destination - hotelswere built to hold as many people as possible. Things like air-conditioningsystems are not very efficient."

"It is difficult to put money into green, even if people know they should."

In the short term, global warming provides opportunities too, especially intemperate zones. Warming trends have lengthened the golfing season in

Antalya, Turkey, by over a month, said Ugur Budak, golf coordinator ofAkkanat Holdings there.

Golfing used to begin in March. But tourists from Britain and Germany arenow coming to Antalya in February. "Winters are milder so the effect on usfor now is good," Budak said. So far there had not been problems like the

water shortages experienced in other parts of the world, he said, "But weknow we could be vulnerable in the future."

At the end of the Davos conference, the UN World Tourism Organization

advised travelers to take the climate into account and "where possible toreduce their carbon footprint." But if Europeans stop flying to Fiji orAntalya, poverty will worsen, tourism officials said.

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