TOURISTS’ PERCEPTIONS IN A CLIMATE OF CHANGE: Eroding Destinations

This research examines tourists’ perceptions of a coastal destination that has suffered severe beach erosion and is undergoing beach replenishment. Officials assume that tourist will inevitably react negatively to the transformed landscape; however, the findings indicate that tourists decode the site in polysemous ways. This study engages Lefebvre’s triadic model of social space to inform the discussion of the symbolic landscapes meanings constructed by producers and consumers. The key argument is that in the advent of global climate change, both the material and social elements have to be considered to devise long-term adaptation measures. The findings shed light on complexities involved in tourism destination’s adaptation to geomorphologic/climatic changes as well as contested meanings that emerge from the human-environment relationship.