Climate change remains one of the biggest challenges facing the world today and is characterised by extreme weather events such as heatwaves, extreme droughts and floods. Regardless of the threat posed by climate change to the tourism business, there are still gaps in tourism business perceptions and knowledge of climate change. This research investigated tourism business operators’ perceptions, knowledge and attitude towards climate change at Victoria Falls. In this study that took a multidisciplinary approach, primary data were gathered using an online QuestionPro survey instrument and interviews. The survey was administered door-to-door to the identified 122 potential tourism business operators and other key stakeholders. A sample of 77 completed surveys (a 63% response rate) was realised. The study found that there was a general understanding of the causes and impacts of climate change on the tourism business operators, even though the tourism industry was not taking full responsibility for its role in causing climate change. The respondents also cited challenges and barriers in dealing with climate change, including the lack of knowledge and finance, ignorance and a lack of technical capacity. Climate change was deemed to have caused disruption in tourism activities at Victoria Falls because of reduced water flow levels at the waterfall and the destruction of tourism infrastructure during extreme weather events. The research recommended improvement in climate change knowledge, climate financing and build capacity to help the tourism industry meet both the Sustainable Development Goals and commitments to the Paris Agreement.

中文翻译：

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维多利亚瀑布旅游业经营者对气候变化的看法，知识和态度

气候变化仍然是当今世界面临的最大挑战之一，其特征是极端天气事件，例如热浪，极端干旱和洪水。尽管气候变化对旅游业构成了威胁，但旅游业对气候变化的认识和知识仍然存在差距。这项研究调查了维多利亚瀑布市旅游业经营者对气候变化的看法，知识和态度。在这项采用多学科方法的研究中，使用在线QuestionPro调查工具和访谈收集了主要数据。该调查是针对已确定的122个潜在旅游业经营者和其他主要利益相关者的挨家挨户进行的。实现了77个已完成调查的样本（答复率为63％）。该研究发现，即使旅游业对其造成气候变化的作用并没有完全承担责任，但人们对气候变化对旅游业经营者的影响有普遍的了解。受访者还列举了应对气候变化方面的挑战和障碍，包括缺乏知识和资金，无知和缺乏技术能力。人们认为，气候变化导致维多利亚瀑布的旅游活动受到干扰，原因是瀑布上的水流减少以及极端天气事件期间旅游基础设施的破坏。该研究建议改善气候变化知识，气候融资和能力建设，以帮助旅游业实现可持续发展目标和对《巴黎协定》的承诺。