Two-thirds of Australian tourism locations set to be impacted by climate change

At least half of 178 Australian tourism assets - from national parks to city attractions and airports - are facing major climate risks, according to a newly released report by insurance group Zurich and economic analysts Mandala.

The report suggests that 68% of Australia’s tourism sites - including Uluru, the Daintree and Bondi Beach - are under threat from rising global temperatures and related impacts of wind, flood, heat, cold, storm, drought, bushfire, hail and rain - if the planet hits a further 2C of warming by 2050.

More than half (52%) of sites in the highest of five risk categories are in Queensland. Other sites include the Barossa and Adelaide Hills in South Australia, Cataract gorge in Tasmania and the Great Ocean Road in Victoria.

In addition, the report indicates that many of the country’s 620,000 tourism jobs will be under threat.

Commenting on the findings, Adam Triggs, an economics expert and partner at Mandala, advised “what struck us was just the sheer size of the problem.

“As we looked at the different sites around the country, it became clear how systemic this risk is.”

Triggs said Australia should focus on making the sites more resilient to climate change.

Using climate models, the analysis accounted for changes in those areas using a “middle-of-the-road” scenario for greenhouse gas emissions where the globe warms by 2C by mid-century. This level of warming puts up to 68% of tourism assets in the major risk category by 2050.

Queensland has 52% of sites in the highest of five risk categories, more than any other state, where “multiple very high risks with a very high level of impact” were considered to exist at each location.

Notable areas considered at high risk included Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens, the Great Ocean Road and the Grampians in Victoria, Cable Beach and Kalbarri National Park in Western Australia and the national arboretum in Canberra.

In South Australia, the Barossa and Adelaide Hills were especially at risk, as were K’Gari island in Queensland, Cataract gorge in Tasmania and Kakadu and Uluru in the Northern Territory.

Daniel Gschwind, from the Griffith Institute for Tourism, said the tourism industry needs to advocate for a greater action on climate change.

Gschwind told The Guardian that the report’s findings should be “concerning for everyone”, adding “this clearly shows that the tourism industry is bearing the burden of decades of global policy failure (to reduce emissions).

“The tourism industry has a responsibility to advocate strongly [for climate action] and must use its communication opportunities to raise more awareness.”

Image: Beach erosion at Byron Bay, NSW in 2020 (top) and bushfires regularly impact Australian tourism (below).