Open-Access publication on Tourism and Climate Change in Austria

winter tourism Austria and climate change

Faculty Research

The Austrian tourism industry can look back on many successful decades and has established an international reputation of being a premium destination known for outdoor activities during summer and winter. Climatic changes which would affect Austria’s natural resources and sceneries would also influence the countries economic stability and growth. Especially temperature and the amount of rainfall can decide whether rooms, tickets and trips are booked or not.

The research field “Tourism” is, compared to other disciplines, a rather new scientific research field but it is also one of Modul Universities core specializations since the university’s formation. MUs department of “Tourism and Service Management” has contributed to internationally respected reports and projects and has established a team of experts focusing on a multitude of research areas like policy evaluation, perspectives on tourism demand, challenges in fast-changing environments or destination development.

MU full professor Dagmar Lund-Durlacher has recently co-published an open-access publication addressing the complex relations between tourism and climate change for Austria as a tourist destination. 40 scientists of leading institutions have collected and evaluated data for two years to display a detailed status quo of the Austrian circumstance. It is said that the predicted climate change will affect the Austrian tourism industry significantly within the next decades. The publication also underlines that the sector plays a considerable role in causing climate change. Based on these evaluations Lund-Durlacher’s work suggests suitable measures to minimize and adjust touristic offerings. But next to outdoor offerings like winter sports and golfing, urban tourism and big events will face new challenges and need to think of sustainable solutions in terms of mobility, hospitality, and indoor offerings. The book points out that to fulfill the Paris Agreement a shift in lifestyle needs to be pushed and fast implementations of measures are necessary. Lund-Durlacher looks ahead, predicts challenges and gives solutions and tools to overcome those.

The APCC spcial report with the german title "Tourismus und Klimawandel in Österreich" was organized within the “Austrian Climate Research Programme (ACRP) and was funded by the climate and energy fonds (Klima- und Energiefonds) and can be accessed free of charge as an e-book (in german).

Read or download the publication 

Professor Dagmar Lund-Durlacher teaches and mentors students at Modul University and shares her expertise in courses like:

Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility in the MSc International Tourism Management

She regularly participates in international expert teams for quality assurance of international tourism and hospitality programs. Also, she is part of advisory and expert groups at the Austrian Federal Ministry for Tourism, UNEP (UN Environmental Program), UNWTO (UN World Tourism Organization), and Futouris among others and co-chairs the Certification Council of TourCert, a non-profit organization for certification in tourism.

If you are interested in this study field or the publication you might want to reach out to Mrs. Dagmar Lund-Durlacher directly dagmar.lund-durlacher@modul.ac.at.

Related Programs:

Bachelor in Tourism & Event Management

Master in Sustainability Management

MBA in Innovation and Experience Design for Tourism