Sustainable Design in a Changing Climate: Resilience and Adaptation Strategies for Tourism’s Built Environment

Abstract

Tourism simultaneously contributes to the causes of climate change and suffers from its consequences. While it supports global economies through employment, it faces growing risks from rising temperatures, extreme weather, and disrupted seasonal patterns. At the same time, tourism's built environment intensifies climate change through energy use emissions and waste impacts. The link between tourism, the built environment, and climate change has become a critical area of research, understanding the correlations between these factors and their implications. A mixed-methods review of peer-reviewed studies (2003-2025) reveals that 95% of examined tourism infrastructure lacks climate-adaptive building features, highlighting the urgency of sustainable retrofitting design solutions. This study provides a three-part analysis of sustainable design: (1) it identifies key sustainability and resilience strategies; (2) it explores the conceptual frameworks underpinning them; and (3) it assesses the barriers to implementation. Throughout, the analysis highlights how these elements advance integrated environmental, social, and economic outcomes. Despite limitations of existing research, an integrative framework emerges that combines sustainable design, community participation, and policy innovation.