Climate Change and a Sustainable Business Future for Tourism in the ACT - Case Study Example

Running Head: Climate Change inthe ACT Name Course Lecturer Date Table of Contents Table of Contents ii 1.0 The Current State of the Tourism Industry 1 2.0 The Strategic Challenges to the Sustainability of Tourism Industry 1 3.0 The Major Stakeholders Involved 5 4.0 Possible Strategic Responses 7 5.0 Timeline, Measures and Roles to Assist Implement the Strategy 7 6.0 Conclusion 8 7.0 References 9 Climate Change and a Sustainable Business Future for Tourism in the ACT 1.0 The Current State of the Tourism Industry Convincing evidence directs that the climate has changed as compared to the era pre-industrial; this is expected to continue to change in the 21st century and beyond as well warming of the climate and weather system is unequivocal. The global temperatures have increased tremendously as a result of human activities that are increasing concentrations of green house has in the atmosphere (Amelung& Viner, 2006). Human influences have also extended to other aspects of climate such as ocean warming, wind patterns, temperature extremes and continental average temperatures. They have also lead to the rising of the sea levels; the United Nations world tourism organisation indicate that the sea level rise by 1.8mm every year since 1961 to year 2013. Climate is a significant resource for the tourism industry especially for nature, beach and winter sport tourism aspects. The increasingly changing weather and climate patterns at tourism destinations as well as tourism generating countries affect the comfort of tourism and travel decisions. The changing tourism flows and demand patterns bring negative impacts to the communities and businesses. This is in addition to knock off effects on tourism related sectors such as handicrafts. 2.0 The Strategic Challenges to the Sustainability of Tourism Industry The tourism industry is the most affected by changes in climate in the world; it is also the industry that is most dependent on climate. The weather is more stable and predictable as well from the various aspects of weather such as warm, snowy mountains, beachfront resorts, sunny, turbulence free flights and majestic. With these predictable changes in weather, travelers can move about safely and without disruption of any king from the changes in climate. The 2008 United Nations study by world travel organisation indicates that the tourism industry will be likely to move to higher altitudes and latitudes in areas where the changes in climate will not be drastic (Gossling, 2002). Essentially, this means that tourism will not move at all in areas where there will be drastic changes in climate. Therefore, this makes such areas and regions to suffer from the benefits of tourism not only economic benefits but also social sustainability of such areas. In essence, changes in climate move tourism according to the rate of the changes. This affects the vacation spots because their competitive positions change thereby leaving some areas and regions to decline drastically while others become more popular. In addition, the changes in climate also result to greater volatility of the weather as well as its related risks to infrastructures. Hence, the changes in climate do not only affect persons but also poses serious risks to infrastructures. The changes increase costs especially for fuel and gas. This leads to the erosion of the consumer demand for travel as well as the long term shift in value of different destinations. Separately from these direct impacts of climate change on tourism in ACT, change in climate affects the biodiversity, changes to the land scape as well as the water resources (Peeters, 2007). All these changes joined with the ripple effects to the communities and the environment (this includes the possibilities of destabilization especially in the developing countries) impacts many aspects of tourism and travel destinations. The biggest casualties and victims are the high level resorts and hotels destinations, they experience increasingly erratic weather scarcity of water and changes in seasonality. The stakes are even higher for island and costal destinations which are more vulnerable to rising sea levels, severe storms, hurricanes, water shortage, and flooding and beach erosion. Many of these regions (many in the developing countries) do not have the capacity to adapt themselves to the changing climate (Becken & Hay, 2007). As such, these problems leave the tourism industry in tatters. The climate has a direct relationship with tourism in the ACT, bad climate or changes in climate affects the tourism industry negatively as indicate above. In the same way, in regions that depend on wintry conditions as well as activities for tourism, shorter cold seasons and reduced snow cover directly affect business performance. The reflective and white snow is important to preserving the earth cool. However, as the snow melts because of warmer temperatures, the reflective capacity of the earth is severely reduced, and hence the warming is further increased by the less reflective surface of the earth. This spells trouble especially to the winter sports tourism industry (Scott, 2006). The tourism industry has been one of the major contributor to the growth domestic product of many countries, Australia included. It has been one of the industries that are principle options for combating poverty. Despite this advantage, this increasingly significant industry is extremelyvulnerable to the impacts of climate variability and change. Climate change, as indicated above, has both direct and indirect impacts on tourism. In spite of these changes, there are swarms of opportunities for players in the tourism in the ACT to exploit. Such players as the mountain based regions and beachside can adaptto climate change by building resorts and hotels at a given height above the level of the sea, store enough food for emergencies, prepare and implement disaster preparedness and training for the staff members as well as modify their existing infrastructures to the standards that can withstand major climatic conditions (Gossling & Hall, 2006). Moreover, businesses at the mountain side can implement a four seasons approach. Thy can do this by offering diverse activities in these four seasons. These activities are such as indoor sports, biking and trekking during warmer periods, increase spa and retail offerings for their visitors and guests. These opportunities are also available for exploitation by the online and airlines travel companies. Since some of the major players in the tourism in the ACT such as the resorts and hotels are vulnerable to rising sea waters, they should work on strategies to address such risks. The sustainability of the tourism business is at stake due to climate change. Companies in the tourism industry as well as other firms should report their carbon emissions as part of their social responsibility. They should indicate that they are running sustainable business. This will make these companies to avoid excessive carbon emissions that deplete the ozone layer and hence changes in climate. They should use such disclosures as part of their opportunity to communicate with other business partners about growth opportunities. By talking to corporate clients with experience in reporting climate, firms and other businesses may discover new areas to grow their businesses (Yohe et al., 2007). It is therefore very important for business and organisations to commit to sustainable business activities as far as the climate change is concerned. This does not only hold the future of the tourism bushiness but also avoid negative changes in climate. All the participants in the tourism industry should increase adaptability and build resilience. This would make tourism business and the tourism industry in the world viable as well as safe for both hosts and tourisms. They should utilise the climate information, services as well as advice provided by professionals and organizations such as the United Nations. In addition, they should take extra steps towards incorporating climate considerations in tourism development, policies as well as management plans. Their commitment to improving this industry should not be hindered by any other objective since climate change holds the key to their future. 3.0 The Major Stakeholders Involved There are several stakeholders in the climate change and tourism in the ACT.Climate change is graduallyflowing in to decision making of the various stakeholders in the tourism industry. These stakeholders are the insurance, investors, tourism enterprises, companies, tourists and the governments. One of the most important stakeholders on climate change and tourism is the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO). This is an organisation within the United Nations responsible for world tourism. The other organisation within the United Nations that is still significant stakeholder is the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP)this organisation is responsible for regulation of the environment in the world. The other stakeholders are the hotels are resorts; these are the players in the tourism industry. They prepare and sell services to customers seeking holidays, conference sites, and business activities or for leisure. As indicated above, they play a very important role in ensuring the sustainability of tourism business in future. While they take the centre stage in the industry, they should put in place the necessary measures to ensure that their businesses are sustainable for the foreseeable future as well as the long term future of the business (United Nations World Tourism Organization, 2003). The destination planners as well as the providers of hotel and resort services should provide and engage in social responsibility activities directly related to conservation of the environment. This should involve the regulation, reporting and disclosure of their carbon emission for all their activities. This is crucial role in ensuring positive impact to the environment and hence avoids climate change. All the stakeholders in the tourism industry should adapt their operations to climate area around the world using range of managerial, technological, behavioral adaptations and policy in order to deal with climate variability. They also need to do more to incorporate adaptation in future impacts evaluations in the tourism industry especially given the high adaptive capacity(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007c). Furthermore, they should have knowledge of the ability as well as the capabilities of the present climate adaptations in order to cope effectively with future climate change fundamentally. They should learn, from lessons such as the hurricane Katrina and the extreme warm winters experienced in the past, which adaptations can be overwhelmed by events that are not expected and that are beyond the range of experience of the tourism industry (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007b). They should therefore anticipate such events, and many more, in the climate change. Consequently, there is a critical need in this industry to assess the effectiveness of the adaptions in place under the projected climate conditions. This will provide an overview of the state of the adaptations as well as indicate which areas need improvement. In the current period of global climate change, it is no longer sufficient to rely on the past experiences only. There is need for information requirements for anticipatory and effective climate change adaptation. This is substantial and hence adaptation is critical in overcoming climate change challenges by the stakeholders in the tourism industry (Scott et al., 2005). This would also help them to be prepared for the changes and hence run sustainable businesses. 4.0 Possible Strategic Responses The strategy relates to economical, technological and socio-cultural changes that can directly lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions from tourism related activities are expected to continue to grow rapidly under the “business as usual” conditions. This is against the substantial reduction targets agreed by the international community. Thus this strategic response is of particular important to tourism in the ACT. Nevertheless, the response must consider a number of dimensions like the right of tourists to leisure and rest, stabilizing the global climate as well as the attaining the millennium development goals. Stakeholders in this industry can choose to improve energy efficiency, reduce energy use, sequester carbon through sinks or increase the use of renewable energy. The most effective and efficient strategy is to reduce energy use (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007a). In regard to the most critical sector in the tourism industry, the aviation sector is very important. The industry prefers trading of emissions over taxation of emissions or fuel. The sector will enter a scheme where it will increase speed of introduci1ng new technologies. Considerably, an even better alternative is to create a scheme for trading emissions entirely for the aviation sector. This would allow faster introduction of more efficient technologies. In return, this would enhance the profitability of the aviation sector to grow rapidly as the prices of tickets can be increased despite stable costs for operating aircrafts (Wolfsegger, Gossling & Scott, 2008). 5.0 Timeline, Measures and Roles to Assist Implement the Strategy Reducing the use of energy can be achieved by changing the destination developments, destination choices, shifts in use of transport as well as the tour operations (marketing). In addition, changing the management practices can prove to be crucial in tourism business. Tour operations play a significant role in this process as well, they bundle products in to packages that are marketed, advertised and purchased by tourists. They can also increase the length of stay; they would effectively reduce the carbon footprint for every tourist. This would also increase economic opportunities for destinations as well (Hamilton, Maddison&Tol, 2005). 6.0 Conclusion The concerns about climate change are increasing worldwide; the climate change is only beginning. The effects of climate change on the tourism industry are projected to graduallydeepenprincipally under higher emissions situations. Climate change will redistribute climate resources for tourism geographically and seasonally. This poses risks to ecosystem around the world. The impacts of climate change will differ for tourism destinations around the world. Regardless of the success of the reduction of energy use, there will be costs involved with climate change adaptation. These costs cannot be borne only by those affected. The capacity and capacity of the tourism in the ACT to adapt climate change is relatively high due to its dynamic nature and hence there will be significant opportunities for it to reduced vulnerability to climate change. 7.0 References Amelung, B., & Viner, D. (2006). Mediterranean tourism: exploring the future with the tourism climatic index. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 14 (4), 349-366. Becken, S. & Hay, J. (2007). Tourism and climate change – risks and opportunities. Cleveland: Channel View Publications. Gossling, S. & Hall, C.M. (2006).An introduction to tourism and global environmental change. In: S. Gossling & C.M. Hall (Eds.), Tourism and Global Environmental Change (p.1-34). London: Routledge. Gossling, S. (2002).Global environmental consequences of tourism. Global Environmental Change, 12 (4), 283-302. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007a).Summary for Policymakers. In: S. Solomon, D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M.Tignor& H.L. Miller (Eds.), Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007b).Summary for Policymakers. In: M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden & C.E. Hanson (Eds.), Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge, United Kingdom & New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007c). Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [B. Metz, O. R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L. A. Meyer (Eds.)]. Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press. Peeters, P. (2007). Tourism and Climate Change Mitigation – Methods, Greenhouse Gas Reductions and Policies. NHTV Academics Studies No. 6. NHTV. Breda, The Netherlands: Breda University. Scott, D. (2006). Climate change and sustainable tourism in the 21st century. In: J. Cukier (Ed.), Tourism Research: Policy, Planning, and Prospects (p.175-248). Waterloo: Department of Geography Publication Series, University of Waterloo. Scott, D., Jones, B., &McBoyle, G. (2005). Climate, Tourism and Recreation: A Bibliography -1936 to 2005. Waterloo, Canada: University of Waterloo. United Nations World Tourism Organization (2003). Climate Change and Tourism: Proceedings of the First International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism, Djerba, Tunisia, 9-11 April 2003. Madrid: World Tourism Organization. Wolfsegger, C., Gossling, S., & Scott, D. (2008–in press). Climate change risk appraisal in the Austrian ski industry. Tourism Review International. Hamilton, J. M., Maddison, D., &Tol, R.S. (2005). Effects of climate change on international tourism. Climate Research, 29, 245–254. Yohe, G.W., Lasco, R.D., Ahmad, Q.K., Arnell, N.W., Cohen, S.J., Hope, C., Janetos A.C. & Perez, R.T. (2007).Perspectives on climate change and sustainability. In: M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden & C.E. Hanson (Eds.), Climate Change 2007: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (p.811-841). Cambridge, United Kingston and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press. Read More