Effects of Climate Change on Host Communities:

A Study of Selected Tourist Centres in Nigeria

Abstract

Climate change affects host communities just like it affects actual tourist sites and tourist activities. While the direct effects of climate change on tourist sites have been well established, the aftermath of these effects is also observable on the host communities in different dimensions. Using the Protection Motivation Theory (PMT), this study examined not only climate/environmental changes and risks but also considered the social and economic dimensions of climate change risks to host communities. It employed a combination of secondary data from United Nations Tourism Data (1995-2022) and a theoretical-analytical approach for the review of published articles over a period of 10years (2015-2025). The selected articles were from scholarly databases such as Google scholar, Research-gate, and scopus-indexed outlets. The aim of the research is to examine how climate change impacts tourist-host communities. Key findings showed that climate change does not affect only natural resources in Nigeria, it also affects the residents of the host communities of tourism sites with the adverse effects ranging from increased temperatures, reduced length of rainy season and mortality due to flooding as high as 612 to internal displacement of over 1.4 Million people in 2022 among others. The study concludes by recommending initiatives such as community-based approaches, government interventions as well as education and awareness as measures to mitigate the effects of climate change on the host communities of tourist centres.