AbstractsGeography &GIS

Climate change is a global phenomenon that has led to policy-making in many spheres. Since the early 2000s, when the projected impacts of climate change had increasingly come to the fore, there has been added momentum in tourism studies to researching sustainable tourism and travel behaviour. Using the National Trust as a lens, this study explores the potential contribution climate change policy makes in achieving sustainable heritage tourism. The research shows how such a policy evolved at the National Trust alongside key events and developments the charity has undergone since 1995, its centenary year. Senior policy-makers, managers, volunteer staff and visitors to properties in the West Midlands region were interviewed to understand their views on climate change, wider environmental matters, transport issues, and the charity’s response to tackling climate change. The study found that through mitigation and adaptation strategies, climate change policy does support and inform a sustainable approach to heritage tourism but that dependency on car-borne transport to rural heritage sites remains the ‘Achilles heel’ of sustainable heritage tourism as well as illuminating some of the imbalances between conservation and access.