The “Coolcation” Phenomenon in Contemporary Tourism: A Critical Analysis of a New Concept Linked to Climate Change ‘Coolcation’ Phenomenon in Contemporary Tourism: A Critical Analysis of a New Concept Linked to Climate Change.
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17979/rotur.2026.20.2.13374Abstract
The term coolcation, a blend of cool and vacation, has recently gained visibility in tourism, media, and academic debates as an adaptive response to the challenges posed by global warming and the intensification of heat in traditional destinations. This article presents a structured critical review of publications from 2020 to 2025, combining a descriptive characterization of the documentary corpus, thematic content analysis, and critical discourse analysis to assess the conceptual relevance and discursive functions of the term. The review examines whether coolcation represents a substantive analytical category that can advance tourism research or rather operates as a trendy buzzword mobilized for marketing purposes. Findings indicate uneven appropriation across sectors, with the concept serving promotional, symbolic, and reassuring roles that tend to contribute to the depoliticization of tourism practices in the context of the ecological crisis. Viewed through the lens of environmental justice, the analysis identifies discourses associated with unequal climate mobility and potentially elitist adaptation strategies, in which certain social groups can access new “cool” destinations while the vulnerabilities and inequalities affecting host communities receive limited attention.
Keywords:
Article Details
References
Bramwell, Bill y Lane, Bernard (2011). Critical research on the governance of tourism and sustainability. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 19(4-5), 411-421. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2011.580586
Büscher, Bram, Sullivan, Sian, Neves, Katja, Igoe, Jim y Brockington, Dan (2012). Towards a synthesized critique of neoliberal biodiversity conservation. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 23(2), 4-30. https://doi.org/10.1080/10455752.2012.674149
Butler, Judith (1997). Excitable speech: A politics of the performative. Routledge.
Carfagna, Lindsey B., Dubois, Emilie A., Fitzmaurice, Connor, Ouimette, Monique Y., Schor, Juliet B., Willis, Margaret y Laidley, Thomas (2014). An emerging eco-habitus: The reconfiguration of high cultural capital practices among ethical consumers. Journal of Consumer Culture, 14(2), 158-178. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540514526227
Cornelissen, Joep P. (2017). Preserving theoretical divergence in management research: Why the explanatory potential of qualitative research should be harnessed rather than suppressed. Journal of Management Studies, 54(3), 368-383. https://doi.org/10.1111/joms.12210
Cornwall, Andrea y Brock, Karen (2005). What do buzzwords do for development policy? A critical look at ‘participation’, ‘empowerment’ and ‘poverty reduction’. Third World Quarterly, 26(7), 1043-1060. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436590500235603
Dann, Graham M. S. (1996). The language of tourism: A sociolinguistic perspective. CAB International.
Davoudi, Simin (2012). Resilience: A bridging concept or a dead end? Planning Theory & Practice, 13(2), 299-307. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649357.2012.677124
Fairclough, Norman (1992). Discourse and social change. Polity Press.
Fairclough, Norman (2003). Analysing discourse: Textual analysis for social research. Routledge.
Font, Xavier y McCabe, Scott (2017). Sustainability and marketing in tourism: Its contexts, paradoxes, approaches, challenges and potential. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 25(7), 869-883. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2017.1301721
Gössling, Stefan y Hall, C. Michael (2006). Unholy alliance? Tourism and politics in Northern Cyprus. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 1(3), 192-210. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2025.2543953
Gössling, Stefan y Scott, Daniel (2025). Tourist demand and destination development under climate change: Complexities and perspectives. Journal of Sustainable Tourism. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669582.2025.2543953
Higgins-Desbiolles, Freya (2010). The elusiveness of sustainability in tourism: The culture-ideology of consumerism and its implications. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 10(2), 116-129. https://doi.org/10.1057/thr.2009.31
Hulme, Mike (2009). Why we disagree about climate change: Understanding controversy, inaction and opportunity. Cambridge University Press.
Jaworski, Adam y Thurlow, Crispin (2010). Tourism discourse: Language and global mobility. Palgrave Macmillan.
Johnston, Josée, Szabo, Michelle y Rodney, Alexandra (2011). Good food, good people: Understanding the cultural repertoire of ethical eating. Journal of Consumer Culture, 11(3), 293-318. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540511417996
Kingson, Annabel (2024, 2 de febrero). Travel trend: The rise of the coolcation. Luxury Travel Magazine. https://www.luxurytravelmagazine.com/news-articles/travel-trend-the-rise-of-the-coolcation
Laclau, Ernesto (2005). On populist reason. Verso.
Moisio, Risto, Arnould, Eric J. y Gentry, James W. (2013). Productive consumption in the class-mediated construction of domestic masculinity: Do-it-yourself (DIY) home improvement in men’s identity work. Journal of Consumer Research, 40(2), 298-316. https://doi.org/10.1086/670238
Paulsson, Lars (2024, 3 de julio). Tourists escape to cooler Scandinavia instead of Europe’s hottest spots. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-07-03/norway-sweden-and-denmark-tourism-boosted-by-coolcation-trend
Plag, Ingo (2003). Word-formation in English. Cambridge University Press.
Pritchard, Annette y Jaworski, Adam (2005). Discourse, communication and tourism. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 5(1), 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.thr.6040018
Rivera García, Jorge, Fernández-Villarán Ara, Asunción y Pastor Ruiz, Ricardo (2026). Aumento de las temperaturas globales y turismo: Descifrando la tendencia de las «vacaciones frescas» en destinos nórdicos. PASOS Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural, 24(1), 121-133. https://doi.org/10.25145/j.pasos.2026.24.008
Rivera García, Jorge y Pastor Ruiz, Ricardo (2022). Destination Marketing Organization (DMO). En Dimitrios Buhalis (ed.), Encyclopedia of tourism management and marketing (Vol. 1, pp. 889-892). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800377486.destination.marketing.organization
Salazar, Noel B. (2005). Tourism and glocalization: “Local” tour guiding. Annals of Tourism Research, 32(3), 628-646. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2004.10.012
Sánchez-Sánchez, Francisco José y Sánchez-Sánchez, Ana María (2024). Evaluating the efficiency and determinants of mass tourism in Spain: A tourist area perspective. Portuguese Economic Journal, 23, 111-145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10258-022-00228-9
Scott, Daniel y Gössling, Stefan (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, 95, 103409. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annals.2022.103409
Sheller, Mimi y Urry, John (2006). The new mobilities paradigm. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 38(2), 207-226. https://doi.org/10.1068/a37268
Sheller, Mimi (2018). Mobility justice: The politics of movement in an age of extremes. Verso Books.
Sovacool, Benjamin K., Linnér, Björn-Ola y Goodsite, Michael E. (2015). The political economy of climate change adaptation. Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137496737
Strauss, Anselm y Corbin, Juliet (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques and procedures for developing grounded theory (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications.
Thomas, David R. (2006). A general inductive approach for analyzing qualitative evaluation data. American Journal of Evaluation, 27(2), 237-246. https://doi.org/10.1177/1098214005283748
Visit Finland (2025). Travel market outlook from Spain to Finland in 2025. Business Finland. https://travel-trade.visitfinland.com/en/contacts/news/market-outlook-from-spain-in-2025/
Visit Norway (2024). Enjoy a coolcation: Cool and refreshing travel ideas for summer in Norway. https://www.visitnorway.com/plan-your-trip/coolcation/
Visit Sweden (2024). Coolcation in Sweden: 11 ways to keep your holiday refreshing. https://visitsweden.com/what-to-do/nature-outdoors/coolcation/
Wright, Christopher (2011). Policy buzzwords at the interface: ‘Digital inclusion’, social policy and database development. Critical Policy Studies, 5(3), 307-326.