Climate Change and the Future of Destinations

Climate change is increasingly influencing the way tourism destinations need to understand, manage and develop their territories.

Its effects go beyond changes in temperature. They can affect natural resources, biodiversity, landscapes, water availability, seasonality, mobility, local economies and ultimately the relationship between a destination and the people who live in or visit it.

For this reason, climate action should not be considered as a separate environmental component of tourism development. It needs to become part of the way destinations are planned and developed.

For Coolvoyage Destinations, this starts with the territory itself.

Understanding how environmental change is affecting local resources can help destinations identify vulnerabilities, but also reconsider how tourism activities are organised, how visitors move through the territory, how local resources are connected and how value can be created without increasing pressure on fragile environments and communities.

From reducing impact to creating value

The Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism identifies five interconnected pathways for climate action: Measure, Decarbonize, Regenerate, Collaborate and Finance.

These principles also provide a useful framework for thinking about destination development.

Measure means understanding the environmental impact of tourism and how the territory itself is changing.

Decarbonize means looking at areas such as transport, energy, accommodation and tourism activities and identifying ways to reduce their climate impact.

Regenerate takes the discussion further. The objective is not simply to reduce negative effects, but to explore how tourism can contribute to healthier ecosystems, stronger local economies and more resilient territories.

Collaborate recognises that destinations cannot make this transition through the tourism industry alone. Public authorities, businesses, communities, young people, organisations and visitors all have a role.

Finance means ensuring that environmental transition can become part of viable long-term destination development rather than remaining a collection of isolated initiatives.

Climate action begins locally

There is no single model that can be applied to every destination.

An island, a rural area, a historic city and a mountain community face different environmental pressures and have different resources available to them.

This is why climate action in tourism needs to be place-based.

The first question should therefore not be simply “How can tourism become more sustainable?”

It should also be:

“What is happening to this territory, and how should tourism development respond?”

This relationship between environmental change, territorial resources and local action is becoming an increasingly important part of sustainable destination development.

It is also an area that Coolvoyage Destinations is exploring through its European cooperation activities, connecting international learning with practical observation of territories and communities.

Reference framework: UN Tourism – Climate Action in Tourism and the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism.