REVIEW PAPER Tourism and climate change

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REVIEW PAPER
Tourism and climate change: a review of threats and adaptation strategies for Africa
Gijsbert Hoogendoorna* and Jennifer M. Fitchettb
a Department of Geography, Environmental Management and Energy Studies, University of
Johannesburg, P.O. Box, 524, Auckland Park, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2006; email:
[email protected] b Evolutionary Studies Institute, University of the Witwatersrand,
Private Bag x3, Wits, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2050; email:
[email protected]
Funding
This work was conducted while JF was employed as a postdoctoral fellow funded by the
DST/NRF Centre of Excellence for Palaeosciences.

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REVIEW PAPER
Tourism and climate change: a review of threats and adaptation strategies for Africa
Abstract
The intersection of tourism and climate change has seen significant research over the past
two decades, focusing particularly on issues of mitigation and adaptation in the global
North. Research output has predominantly been centred on the Mediterranean and Nordic
countries and number of localities in North-America. The global South has seen
significantly less investigation, despite having significantly lower adaptive capacity to the
impacts of climate change, and numerous countries with rapidly growing tourism sectors.
The African continent specifically has seen appreciably less research than other countries
in the global South, despite arguably having the lowest adaptive capacity and projections of
severe impacts of climate change to the tourism sector from temperature increases, changes
in precipitation volume and sea level rise. This paper therefore presents a review of the
existing literature on adaptation strategies of tourism sectors and participants in African
countries. The crucial argument of this paper is in highlighting the need for an increase in
research into the threats of climate change to tourism in African countries, identifying
future research trajectories. The development of such knowledge would assist in the
development of adaptation and mitigation strategies for these most vulnerable tourism
economies.
Keywords: tourism; climate change; Africa; adaptation; future research.

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1. Introduction
Climate affects the seasonality of tourism, tourists’ selection of destinations, available tourist
activities and attractions, and the overall satisfaction of a vacation (Becken, 2005; Gössling,
Scott, Hall, Ceron & Dubois, 2012; Kyriakidis & Felton, 2008; Morabito, Crisci, Barcaioli &
Maracchi, 2004; Richins & Scarinci, 2009). Climate change, therefore, has the potential to
reduce the sustainability and long-tern viability of global tourism. As climate plays a
significant role in the comparative selection of a tourist destination, climate change has the
potential to alter the popularity of tourism localities and regions (Rosselló & Waqas, 2015).
Furthermore, progressive changes in the climate of a location and increasing threats of
associated natural hazards including storms, flooding and sea-level rise, can result in
destinations becoming progressively unsuitable for tourism (C. Rogerson, 2016). The ability
of tourism destinations to mitigate and adapt to climate change is hampered by the competing
requirements of the more immediate development of a destination’s tourism sector and
infrastructure (Mohan & Morton, 2009). Long-term planning for the consequences of climate
change is often believed to be unnecessary due to the delay until such affects are experienced,
and the probability of them occurring (Hoogendoorn, Grant & Fitchett, 2016). While for
developed countries it could be argued that the threats and opportunities to tourism of climate
change may be relatively well balanced (Perch-Nielsen, Amelung & Knutti, 2010), the
competing challenges of economic development and social uplift in the developing countries
of the African continent result in a lowered adaptive capacity such that threats to the tourism
sector are the most likely, and a highly critical, outcome of climate change (C. Rogerson,
2016).
Kaján and Saarinen’s (2013) review in Current Issues in Tourism explores major global
issues around tourism, climate change and adaptation which emphasises the need for
community specific studies. However, we would argue that despite the significant
contribution by Kaján and Saarinen (2013), the relationships between climate change and
tourism are complex, inter-related and often location specific. The threats of climate change
to tourism, are heightened in developing countries (C. Rogerson, 2016). Therefore, this
review paper critically explores the scant existing literature on tourism and climate change
for the African continent, and argues for a greater research focus on the continent to improve
the understanding of these relationships and to facilitate improved adaptation strategies. This
is particularly true for countries, which have additional immediate policy and developmental

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concerns. The lack of available capital, proactive policies, and expert knowledge on climate
change reduces the adaptive capacity of developing countries, and in turn their tourism
sectors. Moreover, this paper highlights the shortage of academic research on climate change
and tourism in Africa (Njoroge, 2015), and points towards future research trajectories. The
themes discussed in this paper are the climate change threats to tourism relating to increasing
temperatures, precipitation changes, sea level rise, increased concentration of pollution,
followed by a discussion of the findings of location-, attraction-, and severity-dependant
adaptation requirements. These themes were identified by the authors during the analysis of
existing literature as those which pose the most critical threats to tourism, and which have
seen preliminary investigation but requires deeper research focus due to the severity of
projected future impacts. In terms of literature consulted, the authors conducted a wide-
ranging search, cross checked through Google Scholar, Science Direct, Ebscohost, Springer
and Web of Knowledge, across any disciplines that specifically made reference to climate
change and tourism in Africa. No time period was specified during searches given the paucity
of research. A number of key words and phrases were used in this study, too numerous to
mention here, but some of the key ones were ‘climate change + tourism + Africa’, ‘climate
threats to tourism in Africa’, ‘global environmental change + tourism + Africa’. As well as
the key words ‘climate change + tourism’ with each of the 54 African countries entered
separately.
2. The relationship between global climate change and tourism
Globally, tourism is one of the fastest growing global economic sectors, contributing
considerably to the national and local economies of countries around the world (Scott &
Lemieux, 2010). Weather and climate are important determinants of the success of tourism in
a given location, and arguably the predominant factor controlling tourist flows on a global
scale (Moreno, 2010; Scott and Lemieux, 2010). Despite the important role of climate on
tourism activities, research into the relationship between climate and tourism has evolved
relatively recently, emerging only in recent decades (March, Sauri & Llurdes, 2014; Scott,
McBoyle & Schwartzentruber, 2004). This research highlights recognition by state
governments and tourism stakeholders that climate change threatens to significantly
detriment tourism (Hamilton, Maddison & Tol, 2005; Moreno, 2010).

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Climate change impacts on tourism are already being observed, and are gradually influencing
decision-making within the tourism sector (Simpson, Gössling, Scott, Hall & Gladin, 2008).
The United World Tourism Organisation (UNTWO) has identified climate change impacts on
tourist destinations, their competitiveness and sustainability (UNWTO, UNEP & WTO,
2008). The redistribution of climatic resources between different tourism destinations is of
particular concern (Ehmer and Heymann, 2008; N. Marshall, P. Marshall, Abdulla, Rouphael
& Ali, 2011). Due to the changes in the length and quality of climate-dependent tourism
seasons, the competitive advantage of certain destinations will be altered, ultimately affecting
the viability of tourism businesses globally (UNWTO, 2009). The indirect impacts of climate
change include changes to a destination’s environment in response to the altered climate
(Agnew and Viner, 2001). These environmental changes can include changes in the local
biodiversity, landscape aesthetics, a decrease in wildlife, increased coastal erosion, and
damage to tourism infrastructure (Agnew & Viner, 2001; Reddy, 2012).
The combined direct and indirect impacts of climate change will have significant
ramifications on tourism destinations, businesses and infrastructure (March et al., 2014;
Simpson et al., 2008). The effects of climate change on the tourism sector will vary
significantly based on the type of tourism market and the geographic region of a tourist
destination (Simpson et al., 2008). The threats of climate change on winter tourism,
specifically on skiing destinations, includes reductions in the depth of snow and in the
duration of the winter season (c.f. Harrison, Winterbottom & Johnson, 2001; Scott, McBoyle
& Mills, 2003; Whetton, Haylock & Galloway, 1996). Beach tourism faces threats of
intolerably high temperatures, more frequent precipitation, changes in wave dynamics and sea
level rise (Ehmer and Heymann, 2008; Fitchett, Grant & Hoogendoorn, 2016; Moreno and
Amelung, 2009; Sagoe-Addy & Addo, 2013). Mediterranean regions, in particular, are
projected to experience hotter climatic conditions which may result in significant discomfort
for tourists during peak summer tourist period (Amelung et al., 2007). By contrast, the
warming trend projected for countries in northern Europe is likely to be beneficial to tourism,
as it will result in a more ameliorable climate better suited to outdoor activities (Amelung et
al., 2007). The geography of a particular location, the nature of the tourist attractions, and the
regionally-specific climate change projections for different temporal periods are thus of vital
importance.