Tourism

Tourism is travel for pleasure or business, and the commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as being limited to holiday activity only", as people "travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure and not less than 24 hours, business and other purposes". Tourism can be domestic (within the traveller's own country) or international, and international tourism has both incoming and outgoing implications on a country's balance of payments. Tourism numbers declined as a result of a strong economic slowdown (the late-2000s recession) between the second half of 2008 and the end of 2009, and in consequence of the outbreak of the 2009 H1N1 influenza virus, but slowly recovered until the COVID-19 pandemic put an abrupt end to the growth. The United Nations World Tourism Organization e

Climate Change and Tourism in Switzerland : Impacts, Vulnerability and Possible Adaptation Measures

Cecilia Matasci

This thesis is part of the MIADAC project (Modeling Sectoral Climate Change Policies: Mitigation, Adaptation, and Acceptance) included in Work Package 4 of the NCCR Climate. It deals with adaptation and acceptance of Switzerland for the tourism sector. In particular, it addresses the vulnerability of this domain towards climate change, the costs and benefits involved and the costs and benefits generated by the possible adaptation measures. The general objectives of this work are three: first, we will assess and evaluate the environmental, economic and social effects of climate change on tourism in Switzerland. Secondly, we will investigate and select the appropriate and most effective public and private adaptation strategies on a national, regional and/or local level. Thirdly, we will evaluate the environmental, economic and social costs and benefits of these strategies. Finally, it will help to identify the elements needed to overcome barriers in order to bring adaptation issues to the upfront of political discussion. For better analyzing the implementation of adaptation measures, their costs and benefits, a case study region of particular vulnerability (Aletsch) has been additionally selected and will be studied by means of a participative process.

2009

Climate Change and Tourism in Switzerland : Impacts, Vulnerability and Possible Adaptation Measures

Cecilia Matasci

Climate change is a global phenomenon, but its effects occur on a local scale. An example is provided by tourism. Tourism is closely interlinked with climate change both as culprit and as victim. On the one hand, it is responsible for a large portion of GHG emissions from leisure-related transport and high energy consumption in the accommodation and activity sectors. On the other hand, sea level rise, snow pack reduction, glaciers melting, increase of frequency of natural hazards, among other negative impacts, both modify tourism flow and damage infrastructures. This will lead to many regions and nations to become more vulnerable and fragile. One of the concerned regions is the Alpine chain and its villages. The Alpine region is highly affected by climate change (snow pack reduction, glaciers and permafrost melting, increase in flood, landslides, and rock falls events). Because this region is highly dependant on the tourism sector for its subsistence and that the tourism sector is highly dependant on climate conditions and on the frequency of natural hazards, it is essential to reduce vulnerability and starting implementing adaptation measures. In order to do so, it is important to define which areas face which problems and to recognize vulnerability hot spots. This motivation comes from the prospect that the greatest environmental, social and economic damages are likely to be concentrated in vulnerable areas. This article presents an overview of the stand of the knowledge on the impacts, the vulnerability and the possible adaptation measures of the tourism sector in relation to climate change. It also presents a methodology which will allow assessing this vulnerability, referring in particular to the Swiss situation. The methodology consists in the conception of a vulnerability map, in which the exposure, the sensitivity and the adaptive capacity of the different tourism regions are depicted. For these three dimensions of vulnerability considered, indicators have been chosen, and will – in a second time – be weighted and combined. The map created in the frame of this study will eventually allow assessing where it is more important to start implementing adaptation measures. In addition, it will permit to assess if there are similarities between different areas and therefore where the implementation of collaboration and information sharing could be enhanced. Moreover, results will indicate who could benefit from climate change (from example, tourism could profit in some part of the Alps from the relative coolness and freshness in the hotter months of the year). The subject of this work is of particular relevance due to the vulnerability of the sector in regard to climate change, to the importance of tourism for the Swiss economy, to the lack of studies on the subject on a national and regional level, and in a broad context due to the urgent need for more detailed assessments of adaptation costs.

Innsbruck University Press2009

Climate Change and Tourism in Switzerland : Impacts, Vulnerability and Possible Adaptation Measures

Cecilia Matasci

Innsbruck University Press2009

Climate Change and Tourism in Switzerland : Impacts, Vulnerability and Possible Adaptation Measures

Climate change and tourism in Switzerland: impacts, vulnerability and possible adaptation measures

Climate Change and Tourism in Switzerland : Impacts, Vulnerability and Possible Adaptation Measures

Climate Change and Tourism in Switzerland : Impacts, Vulnerability and Possible Adaptation Measures

Climate change and tourism in Switzerland: impacts, vulnerability and possible adaptation measures

Climate Change and Tourism in Switzerland : Impacts, Vulnerability and Possible Adaptation Measures