Climate change and tourism : responding to global challenges

This publication contains the key proceedings and technical report of the Second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism, held in Davos, Switzerland, 1-3 October 2007.

The Davos Declaration and the summary of the conference debates demonstrate a clear commitment of the tourism sector to address climate change issues, and provide concrete recommendations for actions.

The extensive technical report included in this publication was commissioned to an international team of experts by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).It provides a synthesis of the state of knowledge about current and future likely impacts of climate change on tourism destinations around the world, possible implications for tourist demand, current levels and trends in GHG emissions from the tourism sector, and an overview of policy and management responses adopted by the key stakeholder groups (international organizations, public administrations, the tourism industry) with respect to adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. This publication is principally aimed at the tourism industry and government organizations at the different levels, who will have the primary responsibility of developing mitigation and adaptation strategies to respond to the challenges that global climate change will bring to the tourism sector.

It also constitutes an important tool for international agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and financial institutions.