Tourism and Climate Change: Tracing the Evolution and Harnessing Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) for Sustainable Urban Resilience

The tourism sector, while vital to the global economy, is under increasing pressure from environmental degradation, loss of biodiversity and climate change. Climate change has a global impact, particularly on urban areas. Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) are emerging as an important alternative, harnessing natural processes to provide socio-economic and environmental benefits, namely in urban areas. In the European continent, NbS are mainly explored in urban environments to increase resilience to extreme climate events. Despite the continued growth of tourism, especially in Europe, the sector lacks strategies that effectively consider the impacts of climate change in planning. World Tourism Organization (WTO) projections indicate that tourism will continue to grow, especially in Europe. As global temperatures rise, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts an increase in extreme weather events such as heat waves. This environmental concern highlights the need for policies and initiatives that balance economic development with environmental conservation. This study aims to trace the evolution of the relationship between tourism and NbS through publications from 2008 to 2023. A bibliometric analysis was conducted in November 2023, using qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the coverage of spatiotemporal studies on tourism and nature-based solutions (NbS) in urban environment. The Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus databases were used for an in-depth analysis of 75 publications. These publications were synthesized into attributes and codes, including location, journal name, geographic level, analysis methods, results, implications, and trends. This study analyzes how NbS can be applied to strengthen the resilience and sustainability of the sector. Key objectives include examining tourism challenges in the face of climate change and characterizing the role of NbS in the sustainable development of the tourism sector were delimited.