Climate Change and Tourism
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 11. 1.07
The snow came awfully late last winter, and people are worried about how climate change is going to affect the tourism industry in general. Last month the United Nations World Tourism Organization met at at an international conference on climate change in Davos.
Christopher Jones and Daniel Scott write in the Globe and Mail that "tourism has been both a victim and a vector of global climate change. Iconic tourist destinations such as the Great Barrier Reef, the countries bordering on the Mediterranean Sea, the European Alps, the island states of the Seychelles, the Maldives and Mauritius, and the majestic glaciated mountain landscapes from the Rockies to the Andes have all become victims of the rise in global mean temperature of the past 150 years. But the tourism sector has also become a non-negligible contributor to climate change through greenhouse-gas emissions largely from the transport and accommodation of tourists — as much as 5 per cent of all carbon dioxide emissions from human activities."
Among other points, they conclude: "the tourism industry must strive to break with business-as-usual consumption of energy and decouple future tourism growth from ever higher greenhouse-gas emissions.
Furthermore, the UNWTO notes that rail and coach have become increasingly popular modes in many non-North American countries where, for example, high-speed rail has captured the imagination of tourists.
This is a critical moment for the tourism sector to show leadership in the development of a coherent policy agenda to address what must be considered the greatest challenge to the sustainability of tourism in the 21st century." ::Globe and Mail
Follow @TreeHugger on Twitter & get our headlines with @TH_rss!
Thirsty for more? Check out these related articles:
- Green Glossary: Intellectual Property
- Forget Going Green Because It's the Right Thing to Do—Go Green to Make Your Neighbors Jealous
- 5 Ways Climate Change Will Affect Your Health, Plus How to Cope
- Focus on Focus Earth: Saving the Whales (Video)
- Focus Earth: June 13, 2009: Everglades Nevermore and Snake Invaders
- Take it from a Beatle: Cut Your Carbon Footprint by Making Mondays Meat-Free
Hey all,
I am a graduate student pursuing a business idea that around helping hotels go green. I've been focusing most of my class work around the topic, and I wanted to ask for your help (and less than five minutes) in filling out a one page survey that we plan to use to advance our business plan.
Your answers will help us better tailor our central offerings and help validate whether there is a true opportunity in this space!
Here’s the link:
http://kellogg.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_bJaSeWL7Png5LTK&SVID=Prod
Thanks in advance!
Best regards,
Rob
PS. Any forwarding of this message to those that may be interested would help expand our reach and range of respondents and be much appreciated !!!
Hey all,
I am a graduate student pursuing a business idea that around helping hotels go green. I've been focusing most of my class work around the topic, and I wanted to ask for your help (and less than five minutes) in filling out a one page survey that we plan to use to advance our business plan.
Your answers will help us better tailor our central offerings and help validate whether there is a true opportunity in this space!
Here’s the link:
http://kellogg.qualtrics.com/SE?SID=SV_bJaSeWL7Png5LTK&SVID=Prod
Thanks in advance!
Best regards,
Rob
PS. Any forwarding of this message to those that may be interested would help expand our reach and range of respondents and be much appreciated !!!