Assessing the Impact of Rising Sea Levels on Travel and Tourism in APEC Economies

This report includes a substantive research effort on sea level rise and extreme weather events, and the risks they pose to tourism businesses in APEC economies. The purpose of this report is to aid tourism businesses, especially SMES, in preparing for sea level rise by: (1) summarizing and sharing information on the effects of sea level rise and extreme storm events on tourism SMEs in APEC economies, and (2) identifying and communicating innovative tools and best practices that tourism SMEs can learn to lessen the disruptions caused by sea level rise and extreme storm events.

The report includes (1) an extensive literature review that identified the best practices of tourism SMEs in mitigating and adapting to sea level rise, (2) a survey the members of APEC’s Tourism, Emergency Preparedness, Small and Medium Enterprises, and Ocean and Fisheries Working Groups to determine their understanding of climate change impacts and what tourism SMEs in their economies were doing to deal with such impacts, and (3) summaries of technical approaches and case studies of best practices in the APEC region for adapting to, and mitigating, the ill-effects of sea level rise and extreme storms.