Climate change impacts on tourism in Europe and research ideas for the Russian Far East
Andrea Bigano
Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei, 20123, Milano, Italy
We draw upon recent assessments of the vulnerabilities in the EU to highlight the main categories of impacts that can be expected for tourist activities in the boreal temperate regions. We discuss the main approaches to gauge climate change impacts on tourism and we pinpoint the relevance of differences across regions and types of tourist activities.
In the coming decades , tourists will increasingly find that the most favorable climatic conditions for their summer holidays will shift northwards in Europe due to climate change. The attractiveness in northern and central Europe for such holidays is projected to increase in most seasons. Conversely the suitability of climatic conditions for tourism in southern Europe will decline strongly during the key summer months, although they are expected to improve in other seasons.
For winter mountain tourism, the dependence of the majority of destinations from the availability of snow for winter sports, and the projected increase in the altitude at which snow cover will still be present, will imply severe consequences for the viability of tourist activities, particularly on the southern Alpine slopes.
The projected climatic changes are expected to shift the major flows of tourism in Europe and can have substantial consequences for regions where tourism is an important economic sector. The magnitude of the economic impacts depends from non-climatic factors, such as the ability of tourists to adjust the timing of their holidays.
We highlight and discuss and the main adaptation options that tourists and tourism operators can put in place in order to cope with changing climate conditions. We conclude by building upon the lessons leant in Europe to suggest possible research topics in this field that can be of relevance for the Far East Russian region.