Introduction

Tourism and climate change have a strong two-way relationship. There are four broad pathways through which climate change already affects or will affect tourism. The first one concerns direct impacts, like alteration of climate-dependent tourism seasons (e.g. decreased snow reliability in alpine winter destinations) that affect destination choices and ultimately tourism flows, as well as infrastructure damage, increasing operating costs, etc. The second way is indirect, with climate-induced environmental change affecting the natural assets of destinations (e.g. coastal erosion through sea-level rise, or reduced biodiversity through a changing climate), again influencing costs, risks and choices. Thirdly, there are indirect climate-induced socioeconomic changes, from decreases in growth to instability, and changing attitudes towards travel. Finally, policy responses in other sec- tors, such as mitigation policies, can affect tourism and tourism transport in a multitude of ways (Scott, Gössling, & Hall, 2012).

Tourism is very energy-dependent, and nearly all of the energy it uses is derived from fossil fuels. Globally the sector causes some five percent of man-made CO2 emissions. Three quarters of these are caused by transport, with aviation accounting for 40 percent of the total footprint, and cars for 32 percent. Accommodation follows with 21 percent (UNWTO-UNEP-WMO, 2008). These calculations ignore the additional effects of aviation in high altitude, over which there is still scientific uncertainty. However, including these radiative forcing effects, tourism’s contribution to global climate change is estimated to reach as much as 14 percent.