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Nature-based tourism directly and indirectly affects the flora, fauna and environment, thereby reducing the sustainability of tourism destinations. However, the impact of tourism activities on glaciers at glacial tourism sites remains unexplored. Using two typical glacial tourism sites in China as examples, this paper uses the tourism heat footprint (THF) method to examine the impact of large-scale tourism activities on glaciers via local average temperatures. The THF method measures anthropogenic heat release (AHR) from energy consumption and human metabolism per unit area and time divided into seven components of tourism activities: transportation, accommodation, sightseeing, catering, entertainment, shopping and waste disposal. The main results show that the THF values of the Yulong and Hailuogou tourism zones are exhibiting a rapid growth trend, increasing from 8.7 x 10(-3) and 4.0 x 10(-4) Wm(-2) in 1990 to 3.6 and 3.0 x 10(-1) Wm(-2) in 2017, respectively. These THFs are exerting a significant cumulative effect on the retreat of glaciers by increasing local average temperatures in conjunction with global climate change. These results show that the sustainability of glacial tourism and destinations is threatened by large-scale tourism activities. This study fills a current research gap, enriches the understanding of the impact of tourism activities on glacial resources and expands the analytical perspective of sustainable tourism research. Moreover, this study provides decision support for managing glacial scenic destinations and for the sustainable development of glacial tourism. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.