An assessment of the economic impact of climate change on the tourism sector in the Bahamas

The Bahamas is at great risk and vulnerability given its geographical features as a low-lying, sea encircled country. If projected sea level rise is reached by 2050, between 10-12% of territory will be lost, especially in coastal zones where the main tourism assets are located. Vulnerability could a...

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Otros Autores: NU. CEPAL. Sede Subregional para el Caribe
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Publicado: ECLAC, Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean 2015
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Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11362/38601
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spelling oai-11362-386012015-08-03T15:43:26Z An assessment of the economic impact of climate change on the tourism sector in the Bahamas NU. CEPAL. Sede Subregional para el Caribe DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE CAMBIO CLIMATICO TURISMO TEMPERATURA ANALISIS COSTO-BENEFICIO POLITICA AMBIENTAL ASPECTOS ECONOMICOS POLITICA ENERGETICA SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT CLIMATE CHANGE TOURISM TEMPERATURE COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ECONOMIC ASPECTS ENERGY POLICY The Bahamas is at great risk and vulnerability given its geographical features as a low-lying, sea encircled country. If projected sea level rise is reached by 2050, between 10-12% of territory will be lost, especially in coastal zones where the main tourism assets are located. Vulnerability could also be manifested if flight carbon emission taxes are established in the main source markets, representing an economic threat to the tourism sector for the islands. The impact of climate change on main tourism demand variables will cause some losses to the country‟s income and government revenues. This would be acting conjointly with some local threats to tourism assets and trends in future global tourism demand. The second and no less important threat is tropical cyclones, which may be associated with raising sea level. Estimations posited the amount of losses in excess of 2400 million US$ for the four decades under examination. It is to be pointed out that there is still a lack of comparatively accurate data collection and analysis on this subject, a point deserving more attention in order to deepen the understanding of, and to extract better lessons from these extreme events. In the same period, total estimated impacts of progressive climate change are between 17 and 19 billions of B$ with estimated discount rates applied. The Bahamas is a Small Island Developing State with low growth on GHG emissions (second in Latin America), as well as a relative short capacity to lower emissions in the future. The country has a relative delay in the application of renewable energy systems, a solution that, provided documented studies on-site, might turn out to be fundamental in the country‟s efforts to establish mitigation related policies. The Bahamas currently has institutions and organizations that deal with climate change-related issues and an important number of measures and courses of action have been set up by the government. Nevertheless, more coordination among them is needed and should include international institutions. This coordination is essential even for the first steps, i.e. to conduct studies with a bottom-up approach in order to draw more accurate programs on adaptation and mitigation. It is fundamental for tourism to keep track of potential losses in tourist attractions (and to act accordingly), related to correspondent losses in biodiversity, water resources and coastal erosion. Also, actions to fight climate change impacts might improve the islands security standards, quality of living and protect cultural and heritage assets. These elements may definitely shape the future of the country‟s competitiveness as a tourism destination. It is possible and necessary to decide about the options with good cost-benefit ratio and reasonable payback periods, notwithstanding that cost-benefit analysis requires more refined and accurate data to provide precise and locally adapted options. .-- I. Introduction.-- II. Climate change and tourism.-- III. Analyzing climate change in the Bahamas tourism sector.-- IV. Discussion of modeling results.-- V. Adaptation and mitigation options.-- VI. Conclusions. 2015-07-14T13:26:29Z 2015-07-14T13:26:29Z 2011-10-22 Texto Documento Completo http://hdl.handle.net/11362/38601 LC/CAR/L.315 en .pdf application/pdf BAHAMAS BAHAMAS ECLAC, Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean
institution Cepal
collection Cepal
language English
topic DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE
CAMBIO CLIMATICO
TURISMO
TEMPERATURA
ANALISIS COSTO-BENEFICIO
POLITICA AMBIENTAL
ASPECTOS ECONOMICOS
POLITICA ENERGETICA
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
CLIMATE CHANGE
TOURISM
TEMPERATURE
COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
ECONOMIC ASPECTS
ENERGY POLICY
spellingShingle DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE
CAMBIO CLIMATICO
TURISMO
TEMPERATURA
ANALISIS COSTO-BENEFICIO
POLITICA AMBIENTAL
ASPECTOS ECONOMICOS
POLITICA ENERGETICA
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
CLIMATE CHANGE
TOURISM
TEMPERATURE
COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY
ECONOMIC ASPECTS
ENERGY POLICY
An assessment of the economic impact of climate change on the tourism sector in the Bahamas
description The Bahamas is at great risk and vulnerability given its geographical features as a low-lying, sea encircled country. If projected sea level rise is reached by 2050, between 10-12% of territory will be lost, especially in coastal zones where the main tourism assets are located. Vulnerability could also be manifested if flight carbon emission taxes are established in the main source markets, representing an economic threat to the tourism sector for the islands. The impact of climate change on main tourism demand variables will cause some losses to the country‟s income and government revenues. This would be acting conjointly with some local threats to tourism assets and trends in future global tourism demand. The second and no less important threat is tropical cyclones, which may be associated with raising sea level. Estimations posited the amount of losses in excess of 2400 million US$ for the four decades under examination. It is to be pointed out that there is still a lack of comparatively accurate data collection and analysis on this subject, a point deserving more attention in order to deepen the understanding of, and to extract better lessons from these extreme events. In the same period, total estimated impacts of progressive climate change are between 17 and 19 billions of B$ with estimated discount rates applied. The Bahamas is a Small Island Developing State with low growth on GHG emissions (second in Latin America), as well as a relative short capacity to lower emissions in the future. The country has a relative delay in the application of renewable energy systems, a solution that, provided documented studies on-site, might turn out to be fundamental in the country‟s efforts to establish mitigation related policies. The Bahamas currently has institutions and organizations that deal with climate change-related issues and an important number of measures and courses of action have been set up by the government. Nevertheless, more coordination among them is needed and should include international institutions. This coordination is essential even for the first steps, i.e. to conduct studies with a bottom-up approach in order to draw more accurate programs on adaptation and mitigation. It is fundamental for tourism to keep track of potential losses in tourist attractions (and to act accordingly), related to correspondent losses in biodiversity, water resources and coastal erosion. Also, actions to fight climate change impacts might improve the islands security standards, quality of living and protect cultural and heritage assets. These elements may definitely shape the future of the country‟s competitiveness as a tourism destination. It is possible and necessary to decide about the options with good cost-benefit ratio and reasonable payback periods, notwithstanding that cost-benefit analysis requires more refined and accurate data to provide precise and locally adapted options.
author2 NU. CEPAL. Sede Subregional para el Caribe
author_facet NU. CEPAL. Sede Subregional para el Caribe
format Texto
title An assessment of the economic impact of climate change on the tourism sector in the Bahamas
title_short An assessment of the economic impact of climate change on the tourism sector in the Bahamas
title_full An assessment of the economic impact of climate change on the tourism sector in the Bahamas
title_fullStr An assessment of the economic impact of climate change on the tourism sector in the Bahamas
title_full_unstemmed An assessment of the economic impact of climate change on the tourism sector in the Bahamas
title_sort assessment of the economic impact of climate change on the tourism sector in the bahamas
publisher ECLAC, Subregional Headquarters for the Caribbean
publishDate 2015
url http://hdl.handle.net/11362/38601
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