Climate Change and Tourism in Switzerland: a Survey on Impacts, Vulnerability and Possible Adaptation Measures

The tourism industry is particularly affected by climate change, being very climate- and weather- dependent. Moreover, particularly in the Alpine region, it is specially exposed to natural hazards. Nonetheless, this industry is an important pillar of the Swiss economy, providing employment and generating income. Then, it becomes essential to reduce its vulnerability and starting implementing adaptation measures. In order to do so, it is important to define which areas face which problems and to recognize vulnerability hot spots. This motivation comes from the prospect that the largest environmental, social and economic damages are likely to be concentrated in vulnerable areas. This article presents an overview of the current state of the knowledge on the impacts, the vulnerability and the possible adaptation measures of the tourism industry in relation to climate change. Moreover, it presents different methods that could help assessing this vulnerability, referring in particular to the Swiss situation. This is the first step toward the establishment of the vulnerability analysis and the consequent examination of possible adaptation measures.