Southern Cross University: MNG00912 - Environment and Tourism Essay

This essay examines the profound impact of climate change and biodiversity loss on the tourism industry. It explores how shifting climate patterns, including rising temperatures and altered precipitation, are reshaping tourist destinations and travel behaviors. The essay highlights the vulnerability of popular destinations, such as ski resorts and tropical regions, to environmental changes, and discusses the role of media in shaping tourist perceptions. It emphasizes the importance of biodiversity for attracting tourists and the detrimental effects of environmental degradation. Furthermore, the essay proposes various mitigation strategies, such as reducing energy consumption, promoting sustainable transport, and extending tourist stays to lower carbon footprints. The essay also stresses the need for sustainable tourism practices, including protecting natural areas and raising awareness about environmental issues. It concludes by underscoring the necessity of creative campaigns and training programs to protect the environment and ensure the industry's long-term viability. This essay is a valuable resource for students studying environmental management in the tourism sector.

Running head: CHANGING ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM
Changing Environment and Tourism
Name of the student
Name of the University
Author note

1CHANGING ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM
Introduction
Global Climate has undergone drastic changes in the modern era and this has a great
impact on the tourism industry. Climate Change along with that of loss of biodiversity has
proved to be detrimental for the hospitality industry (Michailidou, Vlachokostas and
Moussiopoulos 2016). This essay analyzes the impact that climate change and loss of bio-
diversity has on the sector of tourism and suggests measures that can help in combating these
challenges.
Discussion
Studies have shown that there will be a shift of the preferred destinations to places of
higher altitude within the mountainous areas. The tourists belonging to the temperate nations
are currently dominating the international travel and they will spend more of the holidays
within their home country. People will visit the tourism spots only in the winter season when
the climate will become more appealing thus costing a lot of revenue for the hospitality
industry (Dogru, Bulut and Turk 2016). The shift of the travel pattern will have significant
implications and more of the spending will be on the temperate regions. It will pave the path
for less spending on the warmer nations that are visited by the tourists from temperate
regions. It can alter the flow of intra-regional tourism in which climate is considered to be of
extreme importance (Rosselló-Nadal 2014). There is however no evidence that can prove that
climate change will lead to reduction in that of global volume of tourism. The effect on
climate change based in the global arena can be said to be limited.
The tourists will respond to the holistic impact in relation to climate change and not
the changes within the ambit of climactic conditions. The demand of tourism demand at the
regional scale will be affected by the environmental changes taking place. Global climate

2CHANGING ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM
change can affect the tourism demand in relation to selected destinations and also at the
regional level in which political destabilization can occur. The perceptions pertaining to
climate change will play a crucial role in the process of decision making of the tourists and
also for the investors of tourism. These perceptions relating to environmental changes are as
important to the consumers as that of the actual conditions. Media coverage also plays an
important role in deciding about the choice of the consumers. Speculation in relation to
climate change has dominated the media such as in relation to decline of ski industry
(Amelung and Nicholls 2014). Global warming will lead to less snowfall at that of the ski
resorts. Tourists will stay away from Asian and Mediterranean on account of the immense
heat. Fear of diseases along with that of water shortage will drive the tourists away from
these regions.
Rich bio-diversity can help in attracting tourists and thus can help in bringing profits
for the tourism industry. Deterioration in relation to natural beauty will prove to be disastrous
for tourism as people will be less inclined to visit places (Bigano 2017). Less amount of
rainfall will prove to be catastrophic for the rainforests along with that of the coral reef. The
weather conditions that are faced by the tourists are of great significance for them. Weather
can help in an activity to be carried out and it can act as an inhibitor pertaining to
participation. Bleaching takes place when coral becomes stressed on account of increase in
temperature and this poses to be a threat for the coral reefs (Lew 2017). Increase in that of the
suspended sediments can also be detrimental for animal along with that of plant life form.
The prevailing conditions can cause “zooxanthallae” ( forming colour within coral) to move
away from the coral. The coral bears a white appearance without the algae and it soon dies
(Shani and Arad 2014). For example, Great Barrier Reef that brings in a lot of profits for the
tourism industry is also undergoing coral bleaching in last 20 years.

3CHANGING ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM
Mitigating measures is central to the tourism sector and mitigation can offer different
kinds of business opportunities. Reducing the use of energy is an important aspect in relation
to mitigation and it can be achieved by altering the destination marketing of the tour
operators. A shift in the mode of transport from car to coach can reduce the consumption of
energy (Fauzel et al. 2017). Tour operators increasing the duration of stay of the tourists can
result in reduction of carbon footprint in relation to each tourist. It can help in augmenting
economic opportunities for the destinations. The tour operators are responsible for creating
demand pertaining to less carbon intensive journey by the creation of attractive products
(Lebon and Lapointe 2017).
Tourism should be able to address climate change that can form a part of the process
of sustainable development. The tourism sector should be cognizant of consequences of
climate change adaptation in that of other economic sector that can have an influence on the
sector of tourism. The mitigation in relation to climate change will require transformation of
energy that can have implications in relation to cost of travelling. Sustainable tourism can
help in preserving land for the nature and it offers alternative livelihood options for those
people who depend on land use that is less sustainable. Tourism can help in raising awareness
in relation to sustainability issues and it can rightly motivate people in changing practices that
have been established for a long time. Tourism should properly define the natural areas that
they want to visit with clients and introspect on the field of capacity limit so that it cannot
damage the species. Tourism can also develop creative campaigns and raise international
community awareness pertaining to bio-diversity. The training programs should be inclusive
of subjects like ecology and zoology in order to protect the natural habitat.

4CHANGING ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM
Conclusion:
Global warming will make the tourists visit the spots only in winter thus leading to
loss of revenue pertaining to the industry. There will be less snowfall in the ski resorts thus
leading to decrease in the number of visitors. Shift in the mode of transport can prove to be of
immense benefit for the reduction of energy use. Increasing the length of stay at a tourist
location can reduce that of carbon footprint. Creative campaigns can be developed by tourism
that can help in raising awareness. Training programs can also help in saving the
environment.

5CHANGING ENVIRONMENT AND TOURISM
References:
Amelung, B. and Nicholls, S., 2014. Implications of climate change for tourism in
Australia. Tourism Management, 41, pp.228-244.
Bigano, A., 2017. Climate change Impacts on Tourism in Europe and research ideas for the
Russian Far East.
Dogru, T., Bulut, U. and Turk, E.S., 2016. Efficacy of Gain Index in Predicting the Economic
Impacts of Climate Change to Tourism Receipts in the Mediterranean Basin.
Fauzel, S., Seetanah, B., Sannassee, R. and Nunkoo, R., 2017. Investigating the impact of
climate change on the tourism sector of SIDS. BEST EN Think Tank XVII: Innovation and
Progress in Sustainable Tourism, p.36.
Lebon, C. and Lapointe, D., 2017. Space of Risk, Space at Risk: Climate Change and
Tourism Adaptation in Tadoussac, Canada. Critical Tourism Studies Proceedings, 2017(1),
p.67.
Lew, A.A. ed., 2017. Managing and Adapting to Global Change in Tourism Places.
Routledge.
Michailidou, A.V., Vlachokostas, C. and Moussiopoulos, Ν., 2016. Interactions between
climate change and the tourism sector: Multiple-criteria decision analysis to assess mitigation
and adaptation options in tourism areas. Tourism Management, 55, pp.1-12.
Rosselló-Nadal, J., 2014. How to evaluate the effects of climate change on tourism. Tourism
Management, 42, pp.334-340.
Shani, A. and Arad, B., 2014. Climate change and tourism: Time for environmental
skepticism. Tourism management, 44, pp.82-85.