The Consideration of Climate Change at the Tourism Destination Level in Finland: Coordinated Collaboration or Talk about Weather?

Abstract

This article reports the findings of a case study focusing on the role of climate change at the tourism destination level development and planning in a Finnish context. While the emergence of climate change in tourism is becoming more evident in strategies and development papers, the considerations and concrete actions of tourism stakeholders seem to be on a less established level. Interviews among tourism stakeholders in two Finnish winter tourism destinations suggest that destination-level activity related to climate change is still in its infancy, reactive by nature and dependent on individuals' ambitions. Nevertheless, the general development targets for all-year and sustainable tourism support the efforts to cope with changing climate.