Climate change mitigation policy and the tourism sector: perspectives from the South West of England

Abstract

Climate change is one of the major challenges of our times and state intervention has been identified as a critical success factor in attempts to tackle it. This paper critically explores the reciprocal relationship between climate change policy and the tourism sector in the United Kingdom. It examines on the extent to which current mitigation activities within accommodation businesses in the South West of England reflect recent UK policy on climate change as well as the prospects of the tourism sector contributing to the delivery of the state’s aspirations in this area. Among tourism businesses there has been weak recognition of, and direct response to, recent policy UK initiatives and their associated instruments. If the tourism sector is to make a greater contribution to abating climate change, policy-making must progress from generic prescriptions towards a more nuanced approach that recognizes and addresses the particularities within key economic sectors such as tourism.