A New Normal Emerges for Tourism Promotion in the Age of Climate Change
Skift Take
As extreme weather events disrupting tourism become more and more common, the way destinations respond feels less and less appropriate. A new normal is emerging — and it's going to be tough.
Like most forms of marketing, tourism promotion is all about selling an idea. Depending on the destination, that idea may be escape, relaxation, cultural immersion, or personal transformation.
But no matter how powerful, clever, or emotive their campaign is, rare is the tourism marketer that can compete with even a cursory glance at headlines recently: unprecedented fires across Australia, record-breaking flooding in Venice, a hurricane stalled for eight hours over The Bahamas, a gigantic glacier in Antarctica melting inexplicably fast. While we can't say with certainty that climate change directly caused any one of these events, scientists say we can expect that extreme weather events like these will continue to become more common in the age of climate change.
Of course, natural disasters and extreme weather have always affected tourist destinations, and travelers have long tolerated rubbing shoulders with all manner of human suffering while on holiday. However, as these
