Effects of Climate Change in Australian Tourism

Running head: EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN AUSTRALIAN TOURISM
EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN AUSTRALIAN TOURISM
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1EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN AUSTRALIAN TOURISM
Introduction
Tourism has many impacts in building the environment in Australia. One of the major
factors which follows the promotion and development of a tourism industry is the ability or
capability to provide scope or opportunities for employment and resource generation in major
areas, both directly and indirectly. Tourism industry in Australia is an important constituent
of the economy of Australia. Australia’s economy takes the advantage from tourism
powerfully, which helps to generate different kinds of job, invest and help to grow the
communities throughout Australia. Tourism industry has the promises to be one of the key
strengths of Australia and a sector which is geared up for growth of the Australian economy.
Climate Changes and their Impacts
Australia’s multi-billion-dollar industry is facing danger on daily basis from climate
changes. The most popular tourist destinations are in the danger line; as severe climate
change is posing a major threat to the country’s iconic natural wonders. According to the
environmental advocacy group Climate Council’s report, the top five natural tourist
attractions of Australia could be struck by extreme heatwaves, increase in the temperatures,
rise in the sea-levels, coastal flooding and destructive coral bleaching. The best five natural
tourist attractions include beaches, wild lives, the Great Barrier Reef, forest and national
parks are all in risk due to the changes in climate. Tourism is the country’s second-largest
export industry, which is valued at 40 billion AUD and engaging around 600,000 people. But
the popular and the most visited destinations are at risk, with the bigger cities near the coastal
areas are excepted to see much more repeated flooding in the future years. The “Red Centre”
regions of Australia could see the rise in temperature above 35 degrees Celsius for more than
100 days annually by 2030 (Wilson 2013). Some of the nation’s most popular destinations,
mainly the beaches could be transformed to ‘no-go zones’ during the peak seasons and

2EFFECTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE IN AUSTRALIAN TOURISM
holiday periods. The cities of Sydney and Melbourne even may have to face an extreme rise
in temperature, up to 50 degrees. The pollution is mainly created by the rise in the carbon
level, which impacts the change in the climate and will aggravate and advance across the
nation over the coming years. Also the heavy usage of coal-fired power and having a low
population, Australia is termed as one of the worst per capita greenhouse gas polluters in the
world. The additional heat from global warming will further diminish the tourist season and
will in turn transform some organizations unworkable. Australia faced the third-hottest year
in 2017, and have faced seven out of ten warmest years since 2005. Decline in the maximum
snow depth and decrease in the length of the season at Australian ski resorts have been
identified for over 25 years, which increased the want od artificial snow-making (Scot and
McBoyle. 2013). The industry of tourism in Australia is very much defenseless, particularly
due to the rely on nature-based attractions which are facing the impact of rise in sea levels
and increase in extreme weather events (Benckendorff and Zehrer 2013).
The climate of a place, mainly the temperature and rainfall are the prime
considerations to decide the places of interest which can be visited and at what time.
Variations in the time and quality of the climate-reliant tourism seasons in Australia, and also
the changes in the density and harshness of acute weather events like heatwaves and storms
have significant associations to decide the people whether to visit the places or not. Changes
in climate has already started to affect many characteristics of premium tourist destinations
like biodiversity, water security, the visual of landscapes, production of agricultures,
accessibility of beaches, and the incidence of and distribution of vector-borne diseases
(Higham, Reis and Cohen. 2016). These kind of changes are harmful for a nation like
Australia where the prime tourist attractions are hugely nature-based. Policies looking to
reduce greenhouse gas pollution from the tourism sector may have very important impacts on
the way the people travel, choices of transport and total distances travelled. Climate change