Tourism demand, adaptation, and climate change This review article discusses the potential impacts of climate change on tourism demand. Climate affects tourism in many ways. Therefore, climate change may have significant implications for tourism demand and supply. In order to answer to these implications, adaptation is needed. Tourists, of all tourism stakeholders, are considered to have the best adaptive capacity: they can quite easily change the destination, timing of their journey or activities. Their travel behavior may also be affected by adaptation realized by the industry. Tourists’ adaptation, which will be reflected in tourism demand, has been studied especially from the perspective of winter tourism and tourists’ awareness about climate change and its impacts on tourism destinations. Results show that tourists’ responses to changes deriving from climate change may affect the directions of tourist flows remarkably. In addition, research has indicated that tourists’ consciousness about climate change and about the relationship between climate change and their own travelling is on a relatively low level, and that many different factors which may inhibit the change in travel behavior exist. Therefore, little can be said about changes in travel activity in general.

This review article discusses the potential impacts of climate change on tourism demand. Climate affects tourism in many ways. Therefore, climate change may have significant implications for tourism demand and supply. In order to answer to these implications, adaptation is needed. Tourists, of all tourism stakeholders, are considered to have the best adaptive capacity: they can quite easily change the destination, timing of their journey or activities. Their travel behavior may also be affected by adaptation realized by the industry. Tourists’ adaptation, which will be reflected in tourism demand, has been studied especially from the perspective of winter tourism and tourists’ awareness about climate change and its impacts on tourism destinations. Results show that tourists’ responses to changes deriving from climate change may affect the directions of tourist flows remarkably. In addition, research has indicated that tourists’ consciousness about climate change and about the relationship between climate change and their own travelling is on a relatively low level, and that many different factors which may inhibit the change in travel behavior exist. Therefore, little can be said about changes in travel activity in general.