Eco‐parcel: An approach to identify and describe attractions to support adapting nature‐based tourism destinations to climate‐change impacts

Abstract

Informing climate‐change adaptation measures for nature‐based tourism destinations is contingent on understanding how individual attractions respond to the impact of climate change. There is, however, no evidence of the existence of specific approaches for linking individual attractions to climate change. The eco‐parcel approach is therefore devised to address the gap. The approach follows three simple steps: (1) identifying and defining individual tourist attractions (2) describing and creating a link between individual attractions and their supporting ecosystems using land cover as a proxy; (3) assessing the importance of discrete landscape patches (eco‐parcels) for tourism. The three steps employ literature reviews, tourists' preference surveys and GIS data collection techniques. The operationalisation of the approach in Tanzanian Serengeti and Kilimanjaro National parks case studies shows that the approach is capable of establishing a list of attractions that a destination has and creating spatial–temporal links between attractions and their supporting ecosystems. In conclusion, the eco‐parcel approach allows accurate assessment of the likely losses or gains of individual attractions in the event of climate change, providing information on destination‐specific climate adaptation strategies and, thus, a useful tool for adapting NBT to climate‐change impacts.