Climate change impacts and adaptation strategies for tourism hotspots Mombasa and Cape Town

Abstract

This chapter considers tourism destination hotspots of Mombasa in Kenya and the city of Cape Town in South Africa within the framework of the risks and the impacts associated with climate change. Both cities are recognised as highly vulnerable to the direct and indirect impacts of climate change, including similarities of rainfall variability, drought and water stress, flooding, sea-level rise, storm surges and loss of biodiversity. The chapter provides an overview of the interplay between climate change and tourism with references from secondary published literature through case-specific information for Mombasa, Kenya, and Cape Town, South Africa. It describes each case separately, reviewing climate change and tourism policies and strategies from both national and local level governments as key documents. Mombasa’s limited city-level climate change data is evident in policy and planning, with the national-policy context only offering general adaptation guidance and lacking specific adaptation for the local tourism sector.