Climate change mitigation policy and the tourism sector: perspectives from the South West of England

Abstract

Climate change is one of the major challenges of our times and state intervention has been identified as a critical success factor in attempts to tackle it. This paper critically explores the reciprocal relationship between climate change policy and the tourism sector in the United Kingdom. It examines on the extent to which current mitigation activities within accommodation businesses in the South West of England reflect recent UK policy on climate change as well as the prospects of the tourism sector contributing to the delivery of the state's aspirations in this area. Among tourism businesses there has been weak recognition of, and direct response to, recent policy UK initiatives and their associated instruments. An Implementation Gap is identified relating to the top-down nature of climate change policy in the UK. If this gap is to be closed and the tourism sector is to make a greater contribution to abating climate change, policy-making must progress from generic prescriptions towards a more nuanced approach that recognises and addresses the particularities within key economic sectors such as tourism.

Climate change mitigation and the age of tourism accommodation buildings: a UK perspective

“…Context, it was argued, ultimately determined their productiveness, efficiency and cost effectiveness (in terms of payback), not to say their ability to contribute towards emissions reductions (in that order). The more perceptive in Stage Two even contended that renewable energy had become synonymous with solar energy because of high profile public discourse in the UK about the Feed-in-Tariff (see Coles et al 2013). However, other renewable energy options were perhaps more suitable to older buildings.…”

Carbon villains? Climate change responses among accommodation providers in historic premises

“…The results of this stage have been reported in detail elsewhere (Coles et al 2013;Coles, Zschiegner and Dinan 2014;Coles, Dinan and Warren 2014). Of relevance here is that there was no significant difference in the number of, and level of total investment in, pro-environmental innovations among properties of different age.…”

“…More specifically here, their work resonates with the challenges faced by those owning or managing older buildings in responding to climate change. Difficulties in retrofitting, establishing the necessary levels of investment and determining payback periods, as well as planning, regulation and governance are common are common to the latter Baldock 2008, 2009;Chan 2011;Coles, Zschiegner and Dinan 2013). Yet, just as historic premises have been largely overlooked in research on heritage tourism, so too they have been in discourse on tourism and climate change (Gössling, 2010;Kaján & Saarinen 2013).…”

Tourism Destination in Remote Area : Problems and Challenges of Tourism Development in North Halmahera as Remote and Border Areas of Indonesia-Philippines

“…Just as the previous study suggested that an evaluation of tourism policy is needed to reduce economic growth as a result of tourism development that affects aspects of sustainability [8]. On the other hand, the evaluation of tourism policies can sustain business development, when climate change becomes a serious problem affecting tourism sustainability [9]. In addition, the importance of evaluating tourism policies and their impacts on social and cultural aspects [10].…”