Climate change and peak oil—two large-scale disruptions likely to adversely affect long-term tourism growth in the Asia Pacific

Climate change and peak oil are likely to have a significant impact on future tourism growth in the Asia Pacific region. Dealing with these issues and the policies and strategies required for mitigation and adaptation need to be given far greater attention by the tourism industry and the public sector than has hitherto been the case. Existing approaches based on crisis and disaster management may be inadequate and a new approach to deal with shocks of this nature is required. This regional spotlight suggests a new approach based on the concept of disruption which is defined as an event that causes substantial and long-term change in the structure of the tourism industry.
Highlights • Peak oil and climate change are likely to adversely affect projected tourism growth in the Asia Pacific region. • Current definitions of the terms crisis and disaster are inadequate to describe the impact of large scale events such as peak oil and climate change. • The term ‘disruption’ provides a more comprehensive approach to dealing with these issues. • The tourism industry in the Asia Pacific region needs to become more proactive in planning to cope with future large scale disruptions.