Tourism, Climate Change and Water Resources: Coastal Mediterranean Spain as an Example

© 2013 by JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved. Tourism is an activity that is particularly exposed to the effects of climate change. Some tourist modalities (beach, winter sports, etc.)* may show a high vulnerability to global warming and associated processes. Increased temperatures and reduced rainfall might generate a significant reduction in water resources in coastal Mediterranean areas. In this sense, the Spanish Mediterranean coast could become a laboratory for the analysis of the effects of the loss of water resources and their influence on tourism, which represents the main source of income in this part of Spain. This chapter analyses the different levels of exposure and vulnerability to climate change and the reduction of water resources in the tourist areas of the Spanish Mediterranean coast. It also analyses the implementation of mitigation and adaptation measures to climate change (use of alternative water resources such as wastewater and desalination) that can prevent the loss of competitiveness for the tourism destinations in the forthcoming decades.