Untangling adaptive capacity in tourism: a narrative and systematic review

Abstract

This study examines peer-reviewed literature on adaptive capacity (AC) in tourism under the condition of climate change adaptation for the publication period of 1990–2019. We analyze and visualize existing research using a combined approach of narrative and systematic reviews and employing software such as NVIVO 12, Python 3.8, and Gephi 0.9.2. We first investigate policy transitions toward sustainable adaptation in tourism and then analyze the systematization of tourism reflected in the definitions of AC. Next, we conduct an in-depth analysis of evolutions in tourism adaptation by interpreting the occurrences and interactions of three main streams of AC: resource, social-psychological, socio-ecological. We conclude that diverse methodologies in tourism research on adaptation contribute to augmenting the quantitative measurement of social factors influencing AC. The findings provide insights into how to improve the adaptation process and advance germane theoretical debates, particularly on the role of human factors in human–nature relationships aimed at developing sustainability.

A review of studies on tourism and climate change from 2007 to 2021

“…The trend may also reflect a shift from a focus on the demand side to a greater emphasis on supply in climate change and tourism studies. Finally, topics on mitigation and adaptation have received greater recent attention, indicating that adaptation is being emphasized as urgent in tourism and climate change studies (Kaján and Saarinen, 2013; Phan et al , 2021).…”

“…Moreover, resilience in tourism is receiving much greater research attention as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate change has begun to enter this recent discussion (Gössling and Higham, 2021; Wang et al , 2022). Also emerging are conversations about roadblocks to climate change adaptation in tourism because of intractable policies and systems, inadequate creativity and other human factors (Phan et al , 2021; Weaver et al , 2022).…”

“…The body of literature on climate change and tourism has been growing rapidly since the mid-2000s, with the majority focused on the impact of climate change on tourism (Becken, 2013; Fang et al , 2018; Phan et al , 2021). Similarly, past review studies focused predominantly on the impacts of climate change on different tourism sectors and related adaptation strategies.…”

“…Several review articles have focused on issues regarding tourism and climate change. Most of these studies addressed special interests or particular perspectives to investigate the interrelationships between climate change and tourism, including reviews of the influence of climate change on international tourism (Scott et al , 2012b) and tourism in specific geographic regions, such as in Canada (Dawson and Scott, 2010; Hewer and Gough, 2017), Austria (Gühnemann et al , 2021), Indonesia (Satyawan et al , 2021), China (Wang et al , 2017), the Nordic countries (Hall and Saarinen, 2021) and in small island developing states (SIDS) (Pedapalli et al , 2022); the projected impacts of climate change on coastal and marine tourism (Arabadzhyan et al , 2021; Moreno and Amelung, 2009) and ski tourism (Steiger et al , 2019); climate change adaptation (Kaján and Saarinen, 2013; Phan et al , 2021; Njoroge, 2015), destination resilience and management (Gössling and Higham, 2021; Pedapalli et al , 2022; Weaver et al , 2022); tourist perceptions and responses to global climate change (Gössling et al , 2012); and quantitative approaches in climate change impact assessment for tourism (Rosselló-Nadal, 2014). All these works provided useful insights on the complex issues of climate change in tourism based on geographical, environmental, social, psychological and methodological concerns.…”

Visualizing the Development of Research on Tourism Resilience With Mixed Methods

“…Folke et al (2002) proposed a framework for responding to rapid, complex change by maintaining and building adaptive capability, arguing that structured scenarios and active adaptive management are two important tools to build resilience in social-ecological systems. These concepts and tools have been accepted and applied by scholars in tourism studies (Gabriel-Campos et al, 2021; Hartman, 2016; Islam et al, 2018; Nguyen et al, 2021; Phan et al, 2021).…”