Climate change and its impacts on coastal tourism: a case of Bagamoyo District

This study assessed the impacts climate change on coastal tourism along the coast of Bagamoyo including Dunda and Kaole villages. It identified potential impacts on coastal resources that are used as tourist attractions, and assessed the vulnerability of coastal tourism, how it is adapted to climate change impacts. Further, the study examined the existing policies that are addressing mitigation and adaptation to climate change in Tanzania. The methodologies employed in this study include GIS and remote sensing analysis; this helped in detecting the vegetation covers change and shoreline change along the coast which showed that there is a gradual decrease of beach areas as well as random sampling were used in the collection of data on local communities’ perceptions on the climate change impacts. Participant observation and literature reviews were extensively used. Results observed from TMA rainfall data from 1950-2007 showed that, the rainfall trend has been decreasing over the years and this has affect farmers as well. Temperature increased by approximately 0.5˚C and 2˚C (for mean maximum and minimum temperature respectively) whereas the average annual temperature increases of 1˚C for over 30 years since 1978 which cause discomfort to tourists as well as local communities. Findings from the study showed that, coastal natural resources are vulnerable to the increased temperature sea level rise and drought. The threats from sea level rise and coastal erosion is of significant which increases vulnerabilities to coastal tourism activities in the areas. Further, the study revealed that existing policies and institutional frameworks do not explicitly address the mitigation and adaptation strategies such as construction of seawalls, re-planting of mangroves trees and piling up of sand bag were noted to be applied by Antiquity Department and hotels. It is therefore, recommended that emphasis should be on adaptation strategies including institutional capacity building, re-afforestation programme, and enhancing public awareness and provision of education on climate change impacts to the local communities, tourism stakeholders and government officials.