Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Tourism destinations’ vulnerability to climate change: Nature-based tourism in Vava’u, the Kingdom of Tonga

2015; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 16; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/1467358415611068

1742-9692

Suzanne van der Veeken, Emma Calgaro, Louise Munk Klint, Alexandra Law, Min Jiang, Terry De Lacy, Dale Dominey‐Howes,

Climate Change, Adaptation, Migration

Tourism plays an important role in economic and human development in the Pacific. These benefits are at risk from the impacts of climate change, threatening the sustainability of the Pacific tourism sector. We assess the vulnerability and resilience of nature-based tourism in Vava’u, Tonga, using the Destination Sustainability Framework of Calgaro (2014) modified for a climate change focus. Our empirical assessment indicates that the following factors increase vulnerability levels in Vava’u: strong seasonality, dependency on air access, remoteness, limited connectivity of Vava’u from national decision makers and limited human and financial resources. Resilience levels in Vava’u are heightened by a high awareness of climate change, the resilient nature of Tongans and strong family and social networks. In conclusion, we recommend a set of adaptation strategies to further improve resilience levels, namely improving climate change education, increasing product and market diversification, strengthening institutional capacities and mainstreaming adaptation in national policies.