In British Columbia, and all around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of tourism like never before, given the sector’s reliance on people’s ability and desire to travel, while also highlighting its vital importance to millions of livelihoods and to our local economies. It also threw into sharp focus the burdens that tourism can place on communities when impacts are not accounted for, and resources are stretched beyond capacity. We’re left with a genuine and unique opportunity to rebalance the tourism model in our destinations and around the world. An opportunity to adapt the way we manage and promote our destinations, while strengthening resilience to future shocks, and confronting the urgent challenges of climate change and socio-economic inequity.
What the pandemic taught us, and what our changing climate constantly reminds us, is that we have to be prepared for uncertainty. This includes being prepared for changes to visitor flows and patterns caused by climate change or other future shocks, or by the changes required to tourism if the industry is to align future growth with global “net zero by 2050” targets laid out in the Paris Agreement and Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism.
If tourism is to do its part as a catalyst for strong resilient communities, it will be essential to support the small businesses that fuel the travel experience, and the environmental resources that we all depend on. It will also be critical to innovate and fund adaptation strategies which respond to changing trends and expectations from local, national and global influences, as well as develop a deep understanding of the varied impacts tourism has on our communities.
There are three crucial factors to this adaptation which we cover in this handbook. Firstly, the shift towards a stewardship model, where community needs are placed at the centre of tourism planning and management. Secondly, new, balanced measures of success beyond a focus on visitor numbers to a focus on the value that tourism brings, including its contribution and impacts on the natural environment and community wellbeing. And finally, collaboration - we all need to align towards more collective action. The challenges of inequity and climate change cannot be solved by working alone. This includes collaboration across all key sectors within the destination, as well as between destination management organizations, regionally, nationally and internationally.
This handbook explores these three elements more deeply and offers advice and tips that will help you build resilience into your destination’s plans and day-to-day decision making. The time to adapt is now. By working through this manual and by coming together to solve the challenges we all face, we can help to ensure that tourism is part of the solution, and truly a force for good for our communities and our world.
In British Columbia, and all around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of tourism like never before, given the sector’s reliance on people’s ability and desire to travel, while also highlighting its vital importance to millions of livelihoods and to our local economies. It also threw into sharp focus the burdens that tourism can place on communities when impacts are not accounted for, and resources are stretched beyond capacity. We’re left with a genuine and unique opportunity to rebalance the tourism model in our destinations and around the world. An opportunity to adapt the way we manage and promote our destinations, while strengthening resilience to future shocks, and confronting the urgent challenges of climate change and socio-economic inequity.
What the pandemic taught us, and what our changing climate constantly reminds us, is that we have to be prepared for uncertainty. This includes being prepared for changes to visitor flows and patterns caused by climate change or other future shocks, or by the changes required to tourism if the industry is to align future growth with global “net zero by 2050” targets laid out in the Paris Agreement and Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism.
If tourism is to do its part as a catalyst for strong resilient communities, it will be essential to support the small businesses that fuel the travel experience, and the environmental resources that we all depend on. It will also be critical to innovate and fund adaptation strategies which respond to changing trends and expectations from local, national and global influences, as well as develop a deep understanding of the varied impacts tourism has on our communities.
There are three crucial factors to this adaptation which we cover in this handbook. Firstly, the shift towards a stewardship model, where community needs are placed at the centre of tourism planning and management. Secondly, new, balanced measures of success beyond a focus on visitor numbers to a focus on the value that tourism brings, including its contribution and impacts on the natural environment and community wellbeing. And finally, collaboration - we all need to align towards more collective action. The challenges of inequity and climate change cannot be solved by working alone. This includes collaboration across all key sectors within the destination, as well as between destination management organizations, regionally, nationally and internationally.
This handbook explores these three elements more deeply and offers advice and tips that will help you build resilience into your destination’s plans and day-to-day decision making. The time to adapt is now. By working through this manual and by coming together to solve the challenges we all face, we can help to ensure that tourism is part of the solution, and truly a force for good for our communities and our world.
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