On Monday, January 12, 2026, at 12:30 p.m., the eighth session of the joint lunchtalk series organized by the DKKV and its institutional member CEDIM will take place under the title „Tourism at Risk: Adapting Destinations to Climate and Disaster
Challenges.“ In his presentation Dr. Bijan Khazai will show how climate and disaster risks are increasingly shaping the future of tourism, and why resilience still lags behind investment and planning decisions. He will draw on concrete examples such as climate and disaster loss modelling of tourism assets for California; climate risk profiling for Small Island Developing States, and destination resilience projects in the Canary Islands, Canada and California. The presentation highlights how destination-wide risk assessments, resilience frameworks, and actionable data tools — including resilience scorecards, dashboards, and global tourism exposure databases — can help destinations move from reactive crisis management to resilience as a competitiveness strategy. These examples demonstrate how data-driven resilience planning can inform policy, investment, and financing decisions for tourism destinations worldwide.
Dr. Bijan Khazai is the CEO of Risklayer GmbH and Hotel Resilient, with over 20 years of experience as a scientist and practitioner in resilience planning, risk assessment, and risk reduction. He has led international research projects and consultancies for communities, tourism destinations, governments, and the private sector, working with clients such as Travel Foundation, Visit California, and Destination Canada.
Further information about the event can be found on the event flyer, and you can register here. More information about the entire Lunchtalk series can be found on our website or in the flyer.
(Image source: DKKV)