Abstract
The study and relationship between tourism and climate change is one that has encountered increasing academic interest from several disciplines including tourism studies. Climate change is projected to fundamentally alter or undermine the natural resource base upon which many forms of tourism are anchored. Climate change raises a number of critical questions and challenges for the tourism industry and for the individuals and businesses that make-up the industry. Arguably, several key aspects of the nexus of tourism and climate change remain under-researched. This thesis seeks to contribute to the body of academic literature and knowledge concerning awareness, risk perception and actions being undertaken by the tourism industry with South Africa the research focus. The research has three core foci. First, is to contextualize the importance of the tourism and climate change issue for South Africa by defining tourism-dependent areas and unpacking the implications of climate change for these particular areas. Second, the research seeks to understand the national tourism industry's perspective concerning climate change in South Africa, and the phenomenon’s relative significance as compared to other challenges facing the tourism sector. Third, the study examines local tourism business perceptions of climate change across different sectors of tourism and between different tourism dependent localities. The investigation contains three case studies which afford insight into the local and contextual realities of climate change initiatives for different segments of the tourism industry in South Africa, namely nature-based safari tourism, urban tourism, and coastal tourism. The local case studies are of Waterberg District in Limpopo, the Sandton business node in Gauteng, and of the Garden Route District Municipality of Western Cape province. In total the primary research undertaken for this dissertation involves 123 detailed interviews across expert stakeholders and the three local case studies. The findings reveal key barriers to key stakeholders in the tourism industry of South Africa taking purposeful action to address the challenges of climate change. Overall, the study contributes to national and international scholarship on tourism climate change by analysing the risk perceptions and barriers to climate change related action within the context of South Africa’s tourism industry.
Ph.D. (Tourism)