Tourism Destinations and Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation in Action

CALL FOR PAPERS

Tourism Destinations and Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation in Action

Journal: Journal of Destination Marketing & Management

Publisher: Elsevier

Submission Deadline: 1 August 2026

Introduction

Climate change is the greatest challenge to sustainable tourism — posing a critical test for policymakers worldwide who need to meet the commitments under the Paris Agreement. In Europe, the EU is tasked with meeting a 55% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and climate neutrality by mid-century. The Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism calls for climate action plans along five pathways — measurement, decarbonisation, regeneration, collaboration, and finance — reinforced by the Baku Declaration on Enhanced Climate Action in Tourism (2024).

Yet policymakers and tourism organisations show limited ambition in mitigation and adaptation, creating a persistent gap between climate goals and action. Global warming is projected to reshape the tourism industry — significantly altering the spatial distribution of visitor flows and their economic contributions. Mitigating tourism's carbon footprint and adapting destinations to climate change risks requires significant changes to existing practices and routines, and some scholars argue that system transformation is required — involving fundamental changes in belief systems, values, and worldviews.

Destinations rarely commit publicly to climate action — less than 2% globally have committed to net-zero pledges under the Tourism Declares initiative and the Glasgow Declaration. Tourism policies continue to be developed without incorporating carbon footprint data into decision-making, and most destinations do not address mitigation beyond carbon offsetting and technological efficiencies.

Scope & Significance

This Special Issue contributes to scholarship in tourism within the context of a climate emergency — responding to calls for research into mitigative and adaptive strategies addressing the multifaceted impacts of climate change on destinations.

The Special Issue has a threefold goal:

First, it focuses on the destination level — which remains underexplored. The destination scale presents an opportunity for effective climate action, providing a collective and manageable level for policymaking that yields direct and tangible benefits for stakeholders.

Second, it engages with policymaking and governance arrangements that foster polycentric decision-making in tourism and climate change — specifically on mitigation and adaptation strategies.

Third, it encourages managerial approaches within the implementation science paradigm — aimed at closing the gap between research and practice, strengthening awareness and commitment.

Novel approaches related to AI in dealing with climate change in tourism destinations are particularly welcome — applicable to the diagnosis of climate-related problems, demand trends, narratives, data for decision support, and emissions calculations.

Thematic Areas

Destination-Level Perspectives

• Changes in tourist flows and demand patterns — tourism flow redistribution, seasonal shifts, emergence or decline of tourism areas

• Nature-based solutions for climate resilience

• Mobility and sustainable transport

• Vulnerability and resilience of destinations

• New marketing strategies and products aligned with climate goals

Policy and Governance

• New economic models and paradigms for sustainable tourism

• Climate justice and equity — ethics and Global South perspectives

• Planning for climate change at destination level

• Climate governance structures — local, national, and international

• Resistance to climate action and overcoming barriers

Initiatives to Bridge Research and Practice

• Analytical methods for evidence-based decisions — risk analysis, future analysis, horizon scanning, backcasting

• Carbon footprint measurement at destination level

• Disruptive approaches for systemic climate change

• Traditional ecological knowledge and local climate adaptation

List of Topic Areas

Manuscripts are invited on themes including, but not limited to:

1. Climate change mitigation strategies at tourism destinations

2. Climate change adaptation strategies and destination resilience

3. Tourism carbon footprint measurement and decision support

4. Tourist flow redistribution and shifting demand patterns under climate change

5. Nature-based solutions for destination climate resilience

6. Sustainable mobility and transport in tourism destinations

7. Climate governance structures and polycentric decision-making in tourism

8. Climate justice, equity, and the Global South in tourism development

9. AI and digital tools for climate action in tourism destinations

10. New economic models and paradigms for sustainable tourism

11. Resistance to climate change action in the tourism industry

12. Glasgow and Baku Declaration implementation — progress and gaps

13. Implementation science — bridging research and practice in tourism climate action

14. Demand-side approaches to reducing tourism emissions

15. Vulnerability assessment and adaptive capacity of tourism destinations

16. Traditional ecological knowledge and community-based climate adaptation

17. Climate change narratives, communication, and behavioral change in tourism

Guest Editors

Dr. Francisco Femenia-Serra Complutense University of Madrid, Spain

Dr. Mireia Guix The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia

Dr. Anna Torres-Delgado University of Barcelona, Spain

Prof. Susanne Becken Griffith University, Queensland, Australia

Key Deadlines

Manuscript Submission Deadline: 1 August 2026

Submission Guidelines

Authors must be cognisant of the specific author guidelines for the journal and ensure that manuscripts pay particular attention to the journal's publication criteria regarding ethics and policies and writing and formatting.

Authors are invited to submit a full manuscript for a double-blind peer review process. When submitting in the editorial system, select Article Type:

"Climate change in tourism destinations"

Full author guidelines are available at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-destination-marketing-and-management/publish/guide-for-authors

All submissions must be original and must not be under review elsewhere at the time of submission.

About the Journal

The Journal of Destination Marketing & Management, published by Elsevier, is a leading international peer-reviewed journal with a CiteScore of 18.4 and Impact Factor of 7.4. It supports open access publishing and is dedicated to advancing research on tourism destination management, marketing, and policy. It provides a global platform for interdisciplinary scholarship exploring how destinations are planned, governed, marketed, and managed in a rapidly changing global environment.

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