Public perceptions of destination vulnerability to climate change and implications for long-haul travel decisions to small island states

This paper explores public perceptions of climate change and its impacts, and their potential implications for long-haul travel to small island states. It breaks new ground because existing vulnerability research has assessed the susceptibility of destinations and their tourism assets to climate change, not to market perceptions. This study researches public perceptions of the vulnerability of South Pacific small island destinations, defined by UNWTO as especially vulnerable to climate change. Vulnerability perception is defined as the likelihood of perceived (by the public) and projected (by scientists) impacts occurring. A semi-structured online questionnaire received 98 responses from German-speaking potential travellers: 88% of the respondents linked travel to climate change, but while 79% recognise the likelihood of the environment being vulnerable, social and economic impacts were largely ignored. However, in terms of climate change-related risk to the traveller, social and environmental issues are both weakly perceived and do not appear influential when making potential travel decisions. The public's information was shown to come largely from TV (61%), print media (54%), the Internet (46%) and radio (31%). The moderate perceived risks of travel to the South Pacific may help rationalise the strong long-haul travel intentions held by 75% of the sample.