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Global warming and its impact on businesses

Tourism cannot be singled out of the global response to climate change.The sector must be transparent
and coherent and not forget the dual relationship between tourism and global warming, both as its victim
and contributor.While rising sea levels, desertification, deforestation or the melting of snow and glaciers
hurt the tourism economy, the sector also contributes through its very existence to the warming process.

While there are some positive effects of global warming, such as longer beach seasons and the
development of rural and seaside tourism, the negative effects outweigh these benefits.Rise of sea
levels will eventually submerge small islands and coastal regions. Regions depending on tourism are under
threat.Desertification and the scarcity of water are making regions less hospitable for both local
communities and tourists.Deforestation and the harm to biodiversity are affecting both the ecosystem
and directly reducing the global carbon sink, while also discouraging demand for such destinations.Melting
of snow and glaciers are one of the causes behind rising sea levels, and also affecting mountains and ski
resorts, resulting in the shift of destination demands, depending on the most attractive climate
conditions.Change of operating patterns have been influenced given that winter sports, beach or health-
wellness tourism, no name but a few, require very specific climate conditions. The diversification of products
and services decreases the dependency on climate shifts.Adaptation of tourist destinations is a difficult
and long-term measure, which involves the modification of economic circuits, new technologies, intensive
training efforts and especially changing the minds of all the people involved, including the
tourists.Mitigation of global warming is putting into action plans to reduce carbon emissions or modernize
through carbon friendly technologies, amongst others. Tourism offers one of the main sustainable
development opportunity to many developing and least developed countries.Tourism, generated US 735
billion in receipts in 2006, out of which 221 billion nearly a third went to developing countries.It is one
of the major export sectors for poor countries and source of foreign exchange in 46 of 49 least developed
countries.International tourism growth in the 50 least developed countries increased by 110% between
2000-2007, and thus offers one of the main sustainable development opportunities to many developing and
least developed countries.It also has a positive impact on local industries as well as creating direct and
indirect jobs.We must not allow the efforts for climate change mitigation to push poverty alleviation aside.
The United Nations main priorities remain the UN Millennium Development Goals. Work is being carried
out to face climate change mitigation and poverty alleviation as simultaneous objectives.The carbon
dioxide emitted by aircraft and other means of transport is speeding up global warming and global
warming is in turn affecting tourist destinations, creating a vicious circle. People travel to the icy seas
of northern Japan to watch the marine wildlife there, such as dolphins and eagles. But as the ice
recedes, those who make their living from tourism are becoming very worried. Global warming is a
real threat to many scenic spots. Many of the locals even stand to lose their homes due to the effects
of global warming.In this contribution, five major aspects of the leisure-related
alteration of the environment are investigated which are the change of land
cover and land use, the use of energy and its associated impacts,the exchange
of biota over geographical barriers and the extinction of wild species,the
exchange and dispersion of diseases, and, a psychological consequence of
travel, the changes in the perception and the understanding of the environment
initiated by travel.Tourism in the UK benefited from the continued hot spell
throughout the three summer months in 1995. A revival of the traditional British
seaside holiday was experienced whilst holidays taken abroad fell significantly.
This paper uses information from the regional tourist boards to evaluate the
nature of the climate-tourism relationship for domestic tourists in 1995.
Subsequently, the likely concerns and opportunities for tourism in a globally
warmer world are identified
Possible climate change will modify snow-cover depth and change the
characteristics of winter tourism and skiing districts. Our model describes
seasonal snow-cover depth related to altitude in six Alpine climate regions as
the best fit of all snow stations. Data cover 30 winter seasons (November to
April values) from 1965 to 1995. We modified the data according to a scenario of
temperature and precipitation change (2C warming, no precipitation change)
and achieve a new simulated snow-cover depth. The indicators MARP (mean
altitude of resident population) and MASPSL (mean altitude of starting point of
ski lifts) serve as references for critical altitudes of Austrian districts. A
warming implies a reduction of snow in all districts, but the loss is
overproportional in lower altitudes. The direction of economic impacts is clear
income losses and adaptation costs but magnitude and time frames remain
uncertain.Tourism, being volatile and situation-specific, is responsive to climate
change. A cross-section analysis is conducted on destinations of OECD tourists
and a factor and regression analysis on holiday activities of Dutch tourists, to
find optimal temperatures at travel destination for different tourists and
different tourist activities. Globally, OECD tourists prefer a temperature of 21 C
(average of the hottest month of the year) at their choice of holiday destination.
This indicates that, under a scenario of gradual warming, tourists would spend
their holidays in different places than they currently do. The factor and
regression analysis suggests that preferences for climates at tourist destinations
differ among age and income groups.
References
Gssling, S. (2002). Global environmental consequences of tourism. Global environmental change, 12(4),
283-302.

Breiling, M., & Charamza, P. (1999). The impact of global warming on winter tourism and skiing: a
regionalised model for Austrian snow conditions. Regional Environmental Change, 1(1), 4-14.

Giles, A. R., & Perry, A. H. (1998). The use of a temporal analogue to investigate the possible impact of
projected global warming on the UK tourist industry. Tourism management, 19(1), 75-80.

Lise, W., & Tol, R. S. (2002). Impact of climate on tourist demand. Climatic change, 55(4), 429-449.

http://www.china.org.cn/environment/Copenhagen/2009-12/23/content_19114820.htm

http://sdt.unwto.org/content/faq-climate-change-and-tourism

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