Are Coastal Hotels Ready for Climate Change? The Case of Alexandria, Egypt

Climate change casts a shadow on the tourism industry in Egypt in general, and on coastal hotels in particular, as the coastal areas of Egypt have been classified as the most vulnerable to climate change in the Middle East. As such, mitigating the negative impacts and threats of climate change requires an assessment of the vulnerability of coastal hotels and the extent to which adaptation measures are applied. Accordingly, this study applied a hybrid methodology to achieve three main objectives. First, to evaluate Alexandria’s vulnerability to future climate change (at the destination level) by analyzing the recent climatic trends and expected scenarios. Second, to assess the vulnerability of Alexandria’s coastal hotels to climate change (sector level) using satellite images, aerial mapping, remote sensing, and geographic information systems (GIS). Third, to explore how coastal hotels are adapting to the risks of climate change using the four business-focused adaptation measures (i.e., technical, managerial, policies, and awareness-raising). The findings of the study revealed and confirmed that the hotel sector in Alexandria is threatened by sea level rise (SLR). Four hotels are at risk of inundation, and the extent of hotels at risk will increase with future scenarios of SLR. On the other hand, the results of examining the adaptation measures of 36 hotels indicated that the scope of the adaptation measures differed significantly between hotels due to factors such as hotel category, size, duration of operation, and EMS status, but overall, the scope of application was more comprehensive and varied than expected. Technical adaptation measures were the most common and applied by the majority of hotels in Alexandria. The results of this study should help figure out what adaptation measures coastal hotels should take and show policymakers where they should focus their adaptation efforts.