GLOBAL WARMING, CLIMATE CHANGE AND TOURISM: A REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Resumo

Global warming, climate change and tourism of late, have taken the centre stage of academic research. A raging debate is on apart from the popular writings and research articles published on the theme. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “Warming of the climate system is unequivocal as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice since the mid 20th century”. This conceptual paper discussed the contributions of 30 selected papers published in tourism-related journals. The approaches of this manuscript are conceptual and are self-oriented to bring readers na all-encompassed state of the art. The purpose of this study is to identify and understand the extent of research carried out to assess the impact of global warming and climate change on tourism. A three pronged approach is adopted to collect data. First, a literature search is conducted on Google search engine, second, referred research journals in the areas of global warming, climate change and tourism are consulted and third, published reports of national and international scientific organizations and government organizations are examined. The fortunes of tourism industry, given the nature of activity, obviously depend on the magnitude and impact of global warming and climate change. Countries like USA, China, Russia, India and Australia are largely attributed for the growing pollution and the consequent changes in the global climate. Sector- wise, aviation accounts for 40%, automobiles 32%, accommodations 21% and others 7% are found to be the major contributors. Incidentally, all these sectors are related both directly and indirectly to the tourism industry.