BUILDING RESILIENCE: CITY-HOTEL COLLABORATIONS FOR FUTURE-PROOF DESTINATIONS

City mayors and tourist businesses, particularly hotels, could be allies in the fight against climate change. Both urgently need to keep host cities attractive to residents and visitors while building their resilience to the effects of climate change. That gives both a common interest in crafting new, sustainable models of tourism that bolster resilience, making cities more attractive. Growing media attention on the environmental and climate downsides of today’s urban tourism adds pressure on both sides for action now. Collaboration between cities and hotels offers a route to the rapid, creative solutions that both need.

This paper shows why and how public-private collaborations between cities and hotels can be used to test and scale solutions to their intersecting challenges. Tourism cuts across many city systems, notably transport, accommodation, food and water. Working with their tourism industry partners, city leaders can shape a competitive landscape for urban tourism in which sustainable tourism becomes the new normal, with hotels leading to ambitious place-based climate action.