Climate Change and Tourism in Southern Africa

Jarkko Saarinen, Jennifer Fitchett, Gijsbert Hoogendoorn

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9780367609429
• eBook ISBN:
  9781000568417
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Hospitality, Travel & Tourism Industry
• Index: Biological Sciences

This book explores the nature of climate change in southern Africa, its impacts on tourism and the resilience, adaptation and governance needs in various tourism operations and environments. Previous studies on climate change and tourism have mainly focused on the Global North and specific forms of tourism such as snow-based winter activities. Drawing on case studies from a wide range of countries including South Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, this book fills this lacuna by describing and analysing the climate change and tourism nexus in the southern African context. The book begins by providing an overview of the current and estimated impacts of climate change to the tourism industry in the region, highlighting the deepening socio-economic inequities, and environmental and social injustices. It focuses on the importance of sustainable tourism in tackling these issues and highlights that resilience and robust governance and policy systems are essential for a tourism destination to successfully adapt to change. By synthesising the key lessons learned through this analysis, Climate Change and Tourism in Southern Africa also draws attention to specific adaptation and policy strategies which have value for other regions in the Global South. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of climate change, tourism and environmental policy and justice.

1 Introduction

DOI: 10.4324/9781003102618-1

Introduction

The Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) states unequivocally that human-induced global environmental change severely affects earth’s biota, with consequences on physical, biological, and human systems (IPCC, 2021). The tourism sector is contributing to this problem through heavy use of resources, greenhouse gas emissions, pollution, and pressure on infrastructure and the natural environment at large (Gössling & Scott, 2018). The tourism sector is also particularly vulnerable to the impacts of global environmental change, with rising sea levels, droughts, floods, storms, reduction in snow, and heat-waves already impacting destinations across the globe (Scott et al., 2016b). The significance of these vast impacts of global environmental change on the tourism sector, and the tourism sector on global environmental change, has prompted the academic community to realign scientific inquiry towards these urgently pressing issues (Becken, 2013).

The tourism and climate change nexus has become an important and voluminous field of investigation in Tourism Geography, Tourism Studies, Hospitality, Leisure, and Tourism Management (Fang et al., 2018). While tourism and climate change research dates back to the early 1990s (see Smith, 1990; Wall & Badke, 1994), the vast majority of research has been published over the past decade. It comes as no surprise that most of the scientific publications and highly cited work has emanated from the Global North, specifically from Europe, North America, and Australasia (Becken & Hay, 2007; Hall & Higham, 2005; Scott et al., 2012). Within these varied geographical locations, a range of themes have emerged within broader topics including adaptation, mitigation, and sustainability, with focal areas such as marine tourism, snow tourism, and mountainous environments and using varied tools of analysis (Kaján et al., 2015; Peeters & Dubois, 2010; Scott, 2021; Scott et al., 2006).

The Global South has seen significantly less investigation despite being arguably more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and global environmental change more broadly due to limited adaptive capacities (Bossio et al., 2019; Haddad, 2005). The cases that have been investigated are spatially very localised. For example, the country that has seen the most research attention within the Global South is China, the global economic powerhouse and source market for many destinations globally (Fang & Yin, 2015; Lin & Matzarakis, 2011). Research attention in Latin America and Africa is particularly low and geographically specific (Dilimino & Dickinson, 2015; Navarro-Drazich, 2019; Rutty et al., 2021). Despite the general lack of research in the Global South, and particularly in Africa (Hambira & Mbaiwa, 2021; Hoogendoorn & Fitchett, 2018a), the southern African region nevertheless has become productive research locale with a large body of research on tourism and climate change emerging from the region since the mid-2000s (Hoogendoorn & Fitchett, 2020).

The purpose of this book is to consolidate the research on tourism and climate change in southern Africa to establish a coherent narrative on the key themes that have emerged over the past decade and a half. This will allow the development of strong new research foci for future investigation and will assist a variety of stakeholders in the tourism industry, government, and non-governmental organisations to develop an informed perspective on the influence of climate change on the tourism sector in southern Africa. Furthermore, we aim to demonstrate that although Rutty et al. (2021, p. 641) argue that “major geographical gaps persist in Africa” in climate, tourism, and recreation research, this is not the case for the southern African scholarship in this domain. Indeed, we demonstrate that research on climate change and tourism in the region is active and novel, characterised by international perspectives with context sensitive approaches and research questions.

An abridged history of the southern African region

When considering contemporary tourism in southern Africa, it is important to reflect on the colonial and post-colonial context of the region. The southern African region has a rich cultural and political history, originating from the pre-colonial times (Barnard, 2019; McKenna, 2010; Naidu, 2008). Starting in the 17th century, the southern African region made up a significant part of the colonial empires of Europe such as the Dutch and British in South Africa (over different time periods), the British protectorates currently referred to as Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini, and British settlement in Zimbabwe (Adhikari, 2010). In addition, German settlement took place in Namibia (later to be occupied by South Africa), and the Portuguese took control of large areas of what is today Mozambique during the scramble for Africa (Dedering, 2000; O’Laughlin, 2002). During different time periods, the Dutch, British, and French controlled and occupied the South Indian Ocean Islands of Madagascar, Comoros, Reunion, and Mauritius (Allen, 2001).

The fight for and achievement of independence from the colonial yoke occurred at different times periods throughout the 20th century. In general terms, however, many southern African countries achieved independence a lot later than countries in west, east, and North Africa (Meredith, 2006). The first country in the region to gain independence was South Africa in 1910, but only attaining an inclusive democratic dispensation following the fall of Apartheid in 1994 (Hyam & Henshaw, 2003). In 1990, the Apartheid South African government ceded South-West Africa, which became Namibia (Christopher, 1988; Saunders, 2009). Botswana gained independence in 1960, Lesotho in 1966, and Eswatini (then Swaziland) in 1968. Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980 after 15 years of armed struggle known as the Rhodesian Bush War (Onslow, 2011). After drawn out war for independence, Mozambique established independence in 1975 (Hoogendoorn & Back, 2019).

Unfortunately, the post-independence and post-colonial periods in southern Africa have been marred by political instability, civil war, and a lack of economic growth (Nel, 2003). At present, there is a relative political stability in the region, with some success stories such as Botswana, but economic growth has remained sluggish, especially from the region’s economic centre South Africa, that since the 2008 global economic downturn has not recovered fully (Fedderke, 2018). However, one key example of economic success in growth in the region has been tourism (Hoogendoorn, 2021), with international flows that still largely follow patterns from the colonial period and visitors from the former metropoles.

A brief introduction to tourism in southern Africa

For the purpose of this book, the southern African region is limited to include Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Mauritius, and Reunion. The regional classification is not an officially recognised economic or geographic boundary, and many studies in the region may define the boundaries or inclusion criteria differently (Hoogendoorn & Rogerson, 2016; Rogerson & Rogerson, 2011; Saarinen et al., 2009). Southern Africa boasts a wide variety of destinations, many leveraging nature-based tourism (NBT), beach tourism, and urban tourism, with strong sub-sectors such as domestic, inter-regional, visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travel, and second home tourism (Rogerson & Hoogendoorn, 2014; Visser & Hoogendoorn, 2011). Some of the most well-known tourism destinations are the Okavango Delta in Botswana (Mbaiwa, 2005), Sossusvlei in Namibia (Lapeyre, 2011), the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe (Dube & Nhamo, 2019a), the Kruger National Park (Ferreira & Harmse, 2014) and Table Mountain (George, 2010) in South A...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of illustrations
• List of box contributors
• Preface and acknowledgements
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Climate and climate change of southern Africa
• 3 Perspectives for approaching climate resource and change in tourism
• 4 Methods for tourism and climate change research in southern Africa
• 5 Climate change risks to southern African tourism
• 6 Destination resilience, vulnerabilities, and climate change threats
• 7 Adaptation to climate change by the southern African tourism sector
• 8 The role of tourism in contributing to climate change
• 9 Governance and policy needs in tourism and climate change relations
• 10 Conclusions and a way forward
• References
• Index