Climate Changes and their Impact on the Sustainability of Diving Tourism on the Egyptian Red Sea Coasts

Abstract

: The scenic landscape is one of the most important tourist attractions, which motivates tourists to travel, such as snow-capped mountains, rainforests, and colorful coral reefs. However, climate changes pose a huge threat to tourist destinations at present. Where the climate is an essential feature of the tourist destination as one of the most important incentives to visit the tourist destination, and it also has an impact on the environmental conditions that can prevent tourists from traveling, as it determines the suitability of certain attractions for a wide range of tourism activities. Recently, climate change has become one of the most critical threats facing the future of diving tourism in Egypt and stands as an obstacle to the sustainability of this significant type of tourism activity in Egypt. Where climate changes lead to a change in the chemistry of the seas and oceans, which affects the marine environment - especially coral reefs - , increases the risk of algae growth, and hinders coral growth. The field study was conducted on a sample of diving centers in some tourist cities on the Red Sea coast, namely Sharm El-Sheikh, Dahab, and Hurghada. The questionnaire forms were distributed to the workers in these centers in addition to a number of divers, in order to reveal the extent of the negative impact of climate change on diving tourism in Egypt from the point of view of the workers in this activity as the closest and most affected elements by these changes. The results of the study concluded that there are negative effects of climate change on the activity of diving tourism in Egypt, and through the results obtained, some recommendations were put forward for those responsible for the diving tourism in Egypt, in addition to those in charge and workers in diving centers to direct tourists to act on these recommendations.