Climate change and tourism policy in Spain: Diagnosis in the Spanish Mediterranean coast

Spanish Mediterranean coast is one of the European areas where may be more obvious changes caused by climatic conditions in the coming decades. Rising temperatures and decreased rainfall forced to take measures for adaptation to reduce the projected thermal discomfort and the reduction of conventional water resources that would result in a decreased rainfall. Tourism is a very vulnerable sector to climate change and its associated risks that must be adapted to the expected new climate conditions. Together with international protocols to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, several countries have set up plans for adaptation to climate change, with specific measures for each economic sector. In this paper, we analyze climate change adaptation policies developed in Spain in recent years, with special detal in regions of the Mediterranean coast, due to grear economic and territorial importante of tourism in them, and worrying effects listed in the climate change models for coming decades in these territories.