Climate Services and Behavioral Change: Enhancing Resilience in Mediterranean Tourism through co-creation

This study, conducted in the southeastern Mediterranean, delves into the climate challenges of prominent coastal destinations, specifically Costa Daurada and Terres de l'Ebre (in Northeastern Spain). There is an urgent need to strengthen society's resilience to climate hazards and manage risks in these Mediterranean areas.

Adapting these tourist destinations to climate change and mitigating associated risks necessitates a profound understanding of the Behavioral Change factors impacting businesses, citizens, tourists, and administration. Access to Climate Services emerges as a pivotal element in the climate adaptation strategy for the tourism sector. These services must be of high quality, tailored to end-users' needs, functioning as decision-making tools, offering incentives for social benefits, and communicating effectively (Scott et al., 2011). 

The Horizon2020 Impetus project, which started in Oct 2021, aligns with the EU's-2050 climate goals, translating commitments into tangible actions for community and planet protection.

This project seeks a fundamental behavioral shift to achieve climate-resilient tourism and implement the Catalan Climate Change Adaptation Strategy (ESCACC30) in the tourism sector. Recognizing the paramount role of Behavioral Change, the strategy adopts a problem-solving approach based on Michie et al.'s (2013) taxonomy. This method includes thoroughly examining factors impacting behavioral change, devising strategies to overcome challenges, and improving change facilitators. It includes measures to prevent setbacks and plans to address the consequences of climate change.

The co-creation process, inspired by Font et al.'s (2021) methodology, was used to implement these strategies. Public and private actors in the tourist destinations of Costa Daurada and Terres de l'Ebre actively participated in co-creation workshops, focusing on themes such as weather, climate, climate change, and tourism, energy, water, and tourism, as well as the perception of the beach-dune system. These workshops have developed indicators, shedding light on the climatic potential for various tourism modalities. The stakeholders identified the physical impacts of climate change that affect the attractiveness and vulnerability of the tourist destination. They proposed measures related to water and energy, classifying them based on their priority and vulnerability. Furthermore, we employed the repeat photography method to collect data on citizens' awareness of the temporal changes in the beach-dune system within the study area. This approach also helped us understand their perceptions regarding the roles and the landscape of the beaches and dunes. 

References 

Scott, D. J., Lemieux, C. J., & Malone, L. (2011). Climate services to support sustainable tourism and adaptation to climate change. Climate Research, 47(1-2), 111-122. 

Michie S, Richardson M, Johnston M, Abraham C, Francis J, Hardeman W, Eccles MP, Cane J, Wood CE. The behavior change technique taxonomy of 93 hierarchically clustered techniques: building an international consensus for the reporting of behavior change interventions. Ann Behav Med. (2013) Aug;46(1):81-95. doi: 10.1007/s12160-013-9486-6. PMID: 23512568. 

Font-Barnet, A. F., Boqué-Ciurana, A., Pozo, J. X. O., Russo, A., Coscarelli, R., Antronico, L., De Pascale, F., Anton-Clave, S., Saladié, Ò & Aguilar, E. (2021). Climate services for tourism: An applied methodology for user engagement and co-creation in European destinations. Climate Services, 23, 100249.