The relationships between tourism and climate are many and complex. Tourism interacts with the climate in a wide variety of ways: tourism uses climate as a natural resource; it depends on the nature and predictability of the weather in the short term and of the climate in the longer term; and tourists and tourism operations can be harmed by anomalous weather conditions, including extreme events. They face the risk of substantial losses. Tourism also contributes to GHG emissions that alter the global climate. As a result, tourism is being increasingly influenced by international policies to slow the rate of climate change. Less directly, tourism depends on the natural environment and healthy ecosystems; climate is often a critical determinant of the well-being of these ecosystems. But climate change can also benefit tourism, though any gains are likely to be comparatively small. For example, reduced costs of snow and ice management are likely to bring major benefits to the transportation industry. The Stern Review Report (Stern, 2006) notes that in higher latitude regions, such as Canada, Russia and Scandinavia, climate change may provide a possible boost to tourism. But the report also points out that these same regions will experience the most rapid rates of warming, placing infrastructure, human health, local livelihoods and biodiversity at extreme risk.

The multiple interactions between tourism and other global or local systems mean that interventions designed to reduce climate-related risks to tourism, or take advantage of opportunities, are likely to have consequences beyond the tourism–climate system. It is therefore crucial to understand these linkages and their effects, if only to help ensure that climate change adaptation or mitigation initiatives undertaken by one part of the tourism system do not have undesirable effects on other parts of the system, or on related systems. For example, regulating air travel to reduce GHG emissions can result in serious equity issues.