Climate Change, Tourism and Water Resources in the Mediterranean: A General Equilibrium Analysis

This paper presents and discusses some quantitative results obtained in assessing the economic impact of variations in tourism flows, induced by climate change, for some Mediterranean countries. Estimates by a regional climate model are used to build a Tourism Climate Index, which indicates the suitability of climate, in certain locations, for general outdoor activities. As climate change is expected to affect a number of variables like temperature, wind and precipitations, it will have consequences on the degree of attractiveness of touristic destinations. We estimate the macroeconomic consequences of changing tourism flows by means of a computable general equilibrium model. We found that more incoming tourists will increase income and welfare, but this phenomenon will also induce a change in the productive structure, with a decline in agriculture and manufacturing, partially compensated by an expansion of service industries. We found that, in most countries, the decline in agriculture entails a lower demand for water, counteracting the additional demand for water coming from tourists and bringing about a lower water consumption overall.