Daniel Scott

Dr. Scott is a Distinguished University Professor and Research Chair in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management and a Fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs as well as the Canadian University Dubai.

He has worked extensively on sustainable tourism, with a focus on the transition to a low-carbon tourism economy and adaptation to the complex impacts of a changing climate. In 2021, he was ranked among the world's top 300 climate change scientists by Reuters and has been recognized by Clarivate as one of the most cited scholars in his field (top 1% globally) from 2021-2026. He was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2023 and the International Academy for the Study of Tourism in 2025. He received the Canadian Association of Geographers Award for Scholarly Distinction in 2018. Google Scholar (October 2026) citation = >52,000, h-index = 102.

Daniel has advised and led projects for a wide range of tourism organizations around the world, including the United Nations World Tourism Organization, World Travel and Tourism Council, European Tourism Commission, and Caribbean Tourism Organization, as well as other international organizations such as the World Bank, International Olympic Committee, OECD, US Senate, and the Inter-American Development Bank. Over the last two decades, he has also contributed tourism perspectives to multiple Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Reports.

Daniel’s research has been featured in many leading media outlets, including The Economist, New York Times, Washington Post, BBC, CNN, DW, Guardian, Aljazeera, CNN, Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated, Scientific American, National Geographic and many others.

• climate change

• sustaible tourism

• climate risk

• climate adaptation

• recreation and sport

My research program concentrates on global change and tourism, including the implications of climate change, pandemics, demographic change, and ecological change. Recent work explores the interactions of these majro drivers of tourism development through the lens of the polycrisis. My climate change and sustainable tourism research program examines climate resilience, including both mitigation and adaptation dimensions. Leading research includes climate change implications for marketplace dynamics in the ski industry in multiple countries, the sustainability of snowmaking, and the climate reliability of hosts for future Winter Olympic-Paralympics Games. My research group developed the widely used 'holiday climate index' and building on this work, we have estimated the millions of non-acclimatized international tourists that are exposed to dangerous heat in the world's leading city destinations. Other climate risk studies have explored the implications of sea level risk for coastal tourism, how tourists respond to climate and climate-induced environmental change, and water insecurity in major tourism destinations. I led the international team the developed the first estimate of tourism sector contributions to global GHG emissions and have completed several studies on the implications of carbon pricing and other mitigation strategies for the tourism sector.

Our highly cited analysis was the first to examine the potential implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on global tourism, while more recent work has explored the legacy impacts of the pandemic for travel and recreational patterns in Canada.

I worked with and led projects for a wide range of tourism organizations around the world, including the United Nations World Tourism Organization, World Travel and Tourism Council, European Tourism Commission, and Caribbean Tourism Organization, as well as World Bank, International Olympic Committee, OECD, US Senate, the Inter-American Development Bank, as well as international development organizations of Canada, the UK, Norway, Germany, and Australia. I have also worked with Canadian governments (federal-provincial-municipal), NGOs, and multiple consulting firms.

• 1998 Ph.D., Geography, York University, Canada

• 1993 M.A., Geography, University of Waterloo, Canada

• 1991 B.Sc. (Honours), Geography, Brandon University, Canada

• 2025 Fellow of the International Academy for the Study of Tourism

• 2023 Fellow of Royal Society of Canada

• 2022 University of Waterloo, Faculty of Environment – Research Leader Award

• 2021 to 26 Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers - top 1% globally by field

• 2021 Reuters 1000 most influential climate scientists (global rank #267)

• 2020 to 26 Top 2% of researchers in Leisure, Hospitality, and Tourism by Elsevier and Stanford University

• 2018 Canadian Association of Geographers - Award for Scholarly Distinction

• 2016 AlpNet and International Center of Research and Education in Tourism Research Award

• 2016 ITB-Berlin Book Award (for Handbook of Tourism and Sustainability)

• 2014 to 2021 University Research Chair

• 2008 Honoris Fellow, American Leisure Academy

• 2004 to 2014 Canada Research Chair (SSHRC Tier 2)

• 1999 Recycling Council of Ontario Award

• GEMCC 600 - Fundamentals of Climate Change
  • Taught in 2022, 2023
• GEOG 207 - Climate Change Fundamentals
  • Taught in 2026
• GEOG 452 - Resource Management Project
  • Taught in 2023, 2024
• GEOG 675 - Selected Topics in Geography
  • Taught in 2026

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Gössling, S. and Scott, D. (2026) The rising cost of climate change for tourism: A risk assessment. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. doi: 10.1080/09669582.2026.2709157.

• Scott, D. (2026) Heat Risk for Travellers: A Framework to Integrate Tourism into Heat Action Plans and Heat Emergency Alerts. Annals of Tourism Research. doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2026.104141

• Scott, D., Steiger, R., Orr, M. (2026) Advancing Climate Change Resilience of the Winter Olympic-Paralympic Games. Current Issues in Tourism. doi: 10.1080/13683500.2026.2617880

• Scott, D. and Gössling, S. (2025) Beyond Ambition: A Review of Tourism Climate Change Declaration Outcomes and Prospects from Baku. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. doi: 10.1080/09669582.2025.2508878

• Gössling S, Scott D (2025) Tourism in the polycrisis: a Horizon 2050 paper. Tourism Review, 80/1, 65–71, doi.org/10.1108/TR-06-2024-0519

• Becken, S. and Scott, D. (2024) Tourism and Climate Change Stocktake: Assessing the Tourism Sector’s Progress on Climate Action. Journal of Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 32(9), 2018–2038. doi: 10.1080/09669582.2024.2390577

• Scott, D. and Steiger, R. (2024) How has climate change damaged the US ski Industry? Current Issues in Tourism, 27(22), 3891–3907.doi: 10.1080/13683500.2024.2314700

• Scott, D., Gössling, S. (2022) A review of research into tourism and climate change - Launching the annals of tourism research curated collection on tourism and climate change. Annals of Tourism Research. doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103409

• Scott, D., Gössling, S. (2021) Destination net-zero: What does the International Energy Agency roadmap mean for tourism? Journal of Sustainable Tourism. doi:10.1080/09669582.2021.1962890

• Gössling, S., Scott, D., Hall, C.M. (2020) Pandemics, Tourism and Global Change: A Rapid Assessment of COVID-19. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. DOI: 10.1080/09669582.2020.1758708.

• CNN - In just 25 years, dozens of places will be too warm to host the Winter Olympics
• BEST OF THE AP — HONORABLE MENTION - AP combines sports and climate coverage in reporting how climate change is shrinking the pool of Winter Olympics venues
• Ski resorts are worried about the climate crisis, but experts say pledges to reduce carbon emissions don't factor in tourists' flights
• The New Yorker - The End of the European Summer
• Bloomberg - What happens when the Olympics can no longer rely on winter?
• DW - Can the cool north handle a surge in climate tourism?
• The Economist - Winter sports face a double threat, from climate and demographic change
• BBC - Can winter sports survive a warming world?
• NY Times - Quotation of the Day: 'Beautiful, Extreme, Vulnerable'
• Heat and Tourism Risk
• As the climate changes, what does the future hold for the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games?
• Can the Winter Olympics survive climate change?
• A climate change diploma for every grad student
• COP28: Canada’s position in the Global Stocktake
• Waterloo researchers rank among the most influential in the world
• Shaping a climate-resilient future for people and planet
• Ski tourism may disappear if climate commitments not met
• Experts release key recommendations to address climate cost of tourism
• Waterloo professor unveils new framework to accelerate tourism climate action at COP27
• Safeguarding the Winter Olympics-Paralympics against climate change
• U.S. ski industry suffers $5B in damages from climate change suggested by Climate Institute member's research
• Study reveals Olympic Winter Games’ climate crisis