Tourists' Perception of International Air Travel's Impact on the Global Climate and Potential Climate Change Policies

Tourism's increasing contribution to climate change, especially through the use of air travel, is now acknowledged. This study seeks to explore tourists' knowledge and awareness of aviation's impact on the climate, their sense of personal responsibility and their reactions to specific climate change policies. A focus group approach – informed by interviews with international tourists leaving New Zealand – was chosen to involve tourists in discussing climate change and travel. In the focus groups, three policy options were discussed: voluntary initiatives, a global air travel charge and a per capita carbon budget. The global air travel tax emerged as a realistic compromise between restricting travel and achieving emissions reduction. When discussing individual responsibility for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, tourists distinguished between their travel and their everyday life, where responsibility for mitigation was perceived to be greater. The value of freedom to travel is firmly established in the minds of many tourists and limiting travel is considered unacceptable by the (hyper) mobile tourists who participated in this research. Only major societal changes to bring about behavioural change seem likely to reduce air travel's contribution to climate change.     

Analysing International Tourist Flows to Estimate Energy Use Associated with Air Travel

Tourism is a major global industry and air travel is an increasingly vital component of international tourism. This paper examines the neglected relationship between tourism and aviation with regard to global environmental impacts, including energy use and greenhouse gas emissions. Based on visitor arrival data collected by Statistics New Zealand, it estimates a total energy use of 27.8 PJ resulting from international passenger air travel to New Zealand, which would increase national energy use by 6% if international air travel were included in national inventories. This energy use translates into additional carbon dioxide emissions of 1.9 million tonnes. These estimates are discussed in terms of a tourist's 'energy bill', national and international climate change policies, and with regard to the concept of sustainable tourism development.     

‘It Does Not Harm the Environment!’ An Analysis of Industry Discourses on Tourism,Air Travel and the Environment

While a substantial part of the population in Europe seems well informed about the phenomenon of climate change, uncertainty seems to prevail in terms of its seriousness, its consequences for society and action that needs to be taken in order to prevent ‘dangerous interference with the climate system’. Many people seem to believe that there is no scientific consensus about climate change and that individual behavioural change is irrelevant in the face of uncertainty. Such a ‘psychology of denial’ seems particularly strong in the context of air travel, the fastest growing transport sector. This paper seeks to understand this phenomenon by analysing the discourses surrounding air travel. Four major industry discourses are identified: air travel is energy efficient and accounts only for marginal emissions of CO₂; air travel is economically and socially too important to be restricted; fuel use is constantly minimized and new technology will solve the problem, and air travel is treated unfairly in comparison to other means of transport. The validity of these claims is evaluated based on data and material presented in the scientific literature. Results show that there are substantial gaps between the discourses and the reality of aviation's environmental performance, which might partially explain the controversial understanding of air travel and its environmental consequences among the public.     

The impact of tourism developments on CO2 emissions: An advanced panel data estimation

Vulnerability and interaction between tourism and climate change are among the most important issues discussed recently. In this context, this study focuses primarily on how CO₂ emissions, the main source of global warming and climate change, react to tourism developments. To this end, the impact of tourism developments on CO₂ emissions in the most visited countries is examined from 1995 to 2014 by conducting the continuously updated fully modified (CUP-FM) and the continuously updated bias-corrected (CUP-BC) estimators. Empirical results indicate that tourism arrivals have an increasing effect on CO₂ emissions, while tourism receipts have a reducing effect on CO₂ emissions. Results also reveal a possible co-movement and causal relationship between tourism developments and CO₂ emissions in the long-run.     

The relationship between tourism,CO2 emissions and economic growth: a case of Mediterranean countries

This study explores the impact of tourism on economic growth considering CO₂ emissions utilizing panel data techniques for a sample of Mediterranean countries. The cointegration tests reveal that there is a positive long-run equilibrium between tourism, CO₂ emissions and economic growth. This positive long-run relationship may suggest that tourism increases the level of CO₂ emissions and has a statistically significant impact on economic growth in Mediterranean countries. Emirmahmutoglu and Kose (2011. Testing for Granger causality in heterogeneous mixed panels. Economic Modelling, 28(3), 870–876.) test results reveal that the tourism-led growth hypothesis, which suggests that tourism contributes to economic growth, is valid for Egypt, Italy, and Spain. Additionally, there exists a bidirectional relationship between tourism and economic growth both in Morocco and Turkey.     

The effect of tourism investment on tourism development and CO2 emissions: empirical evidence from the EU nations

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of tourism investment on tourism development and CO₂ emissions in a panel of 28 EU countries using annual data from 1990 to 2013. The empirical results from a panel cointegration test confirm the presence of long-run equilibrium relationship among the variables. The long-run elasticities indicate that tourism investment has a significant positive and negative impact on tourism development and CO₂ emissions, respectively. Finally, the short-run heterogeneous panel non-causality test results show the evidence of bidirectional causality between tourism investment and tourism revenue. These results therefore suggest that tourism investments not only increase tourism revenue but also reduce CO₂ emissions. Given these findings, we suggest the policy makers of the EU nations to initiate more effective policies to increase the tourism investments. The increasing tourism investments will allow the industry to grow further by ensuring sustainable tourism development across the EU member countries.     

Trip Planning and Decision Making of Self-Drive Tourists—

Abstract

Touring holidays are greenhouse gas intensive, and ways are being sought to reduce these emissions in New Zealand. This research seeks to influence rental vehicle tourists' planning and decision making towards shorter travel. Semi-structured interviews (n = 96) were conducted as part of a quasi-experimental approach, in which tourists were “treated” by receiving a purpose-designed tourist map. Three levels of planning and decision making could be distinguished, whereby both cognitive and affective processes were important. The tourist map did not influence tourists' itineraries, but tourists in New Zealand consistently followed a “travel budget” of about 3-5 hours driving per day.     

Quantifying Spanish tourism's carbon footprint: the contributions of residents and visitors: a longitudinal study

This paper develops and explains an input–output model to quantify the carbon footprint linked to residents' and visitors' tourist consumption in the Spanish economy between 1995 and 2007, thus offering a rare longitudinal review of a national carbon footprint. Two measures are calculated: a domestic one similar to the producer responsibility criterion and a total measure that includes imported intermediate and final goods, similar to the consumer responsibility measure. The important role of tourism in Spain explains why its domestic carbon footprint represented 10.6% of total CO₂ emissions in 2007. Visiting tourists represented 47% of this figure, households 36%, business tourism represented 14% and public administration expenditures 3%. By industry, transport (26%) was positioned as the highest emitter in 2007, with hotels and restaurants the second (21%) (benefitting indirectly from energy and environmental efficiency improvements over the period). The Spanish reliance on imported oil products and the growing importance of foreign-based air services has caused the total carbon footprint of tourism to increase by more than 100%. Therefore, climate change mitigation plans must include imports, and action must take place through the whole global production chain and in the transport sector, particularly air transport. Future mitigation policies are discussed.     

Travel,tourism, climate change,and behavioral change: travelers’ perspectives from a developing country,Nigeria

While studies have examined people's understanding of climate change and its relationship to tourism, these focus largely on developed country populations. Much future tourism growth will come from developing countries following economic development; often countries where climate change will be strongly felt. Do tourists from developing countries have the same knowledge gaps about travel, tourism, and climate change as in the developed world? Will behavioral change policies be successful in encouraging more environmentally friendly approaches to climate change and tourism in developing countries? This paper presents findings from 20 in-depth interviews with active Nigerian tourists, analyzing their understanding of climate change, the links known, or not, between their travel and climate change, and their willingness to change their tourism patterns. Understanding of climate change was limited and there was conceptual confusion. Participants did not view their own travel as a cause of climate change and many were embedded in air travel practice. Participants were unwilling to change their tourism patterns to reduce their contribution to climate change. Significant structural barriers limit low carbon tourism travel in Nigeria (and other developing countries), including reliability, availability safety, and speed. Behavioral change will be difficult to achieve.     

Short-haul city travel is truly environmentally sustainable

With rising interest in and concern about climate change and environmental sustainability, and the significance of the tourism industry worldwide, the impact of tourism-related activities and behaviors on the environment has become a key area of research. In particular, transport related to tourism has come under scrutiny for its contribution to the ecological footprint of tourism of a destination, mostly accounted for by the dominance of air travel. This study contributes to research in this area by identifying the types of travel situations in which tourists make environmentally friendly choices about travel modes and, consequently, which types of tourism destinations should seek to develop and promote in order to minimize the environmental impact of the tourist sector on both an individual destination and global scale.     

The Critical Relationship between Climate Change Awareness and Action: An Origin-Based Perspective

While it is now widely accepted by scientists and governments that human activity contributes to climate change, there is a lack of understanding whether this realisation is now gaining greater attraction with the general public than it had 5 or 10 years ago. Additional gaps in knowledge relate to the link between awareness and action, which could be hypothesised to have become stronger in light of evidence being produced of some projected climate changes occurring already. This article examines climate change awareness and the link with travel-related decision-making by adopting an under-utilised origin perspective in Wellington, New Zealand. The findings, generated by a household mail survey, indicate that the majority of the respondents are aware of tourism's contribution to climate change and think that it is likely that their lives in New Zealand will be negatively affected by climate change. However, when examining the respondents' recent holiday decision-making, it is evident that for the overwhelming majority, climate change awareness does not appear to influence travel-related decisions. This article concludes by discussing demand-focused measures aimed at reducing the GHG emissions generated by tourism.     

How Tourists and Tourism Experts Perceive Climate Change and Carbon-offsetting Schemes

This study was undertaken against the background of tourism as an active contributor to climate change, to explore how tourists and 'tourism experts' perceive climate change and forest carbon sinks as a means to offset carbon dioxide emissions. Three different surveys were undertaken in Australia and New Zealand that contained the same two questions: is climate change an issue for tourism, and would tourists be willing to participate in tree-planting to offset their greenhouse gas emissions. About half of all tourists questioned a link between climate change and tourism, but the willingness to plant a tree was surprisingly high among tourists (48%), who associated much broader benefits with trees than their function as carbon sinks. The study identified five groups of tourists that require different approaches for the development of educational campaigns. The degree to which cognitive or affective factors play a role for each group will be critical for the success of such campaigns. Tourism experts saw a changing climate as a potential threat for tourism, but did not necessarily see tourism's fossil fuel consumption and the resulting carbon dioxide emissions as a contributor to climate change.     

旅游业能源需求与二氧化碳排放研究进展

人类利用能源导致温室气体排放量的持续增加是全球气候变化的直接驱动力。旅游开发、旅游活动及旅游业发展引起的温室气体排放是旅游业驱动气候变化的重要因素,同时也是发展旅游业主要的环境影响结果之一。随着旅游业的蓬勃发展,旅游业对环境和气候变化的影响被相关国际组织和社会各界所关注,旅游业能源需求与二氧化碳排放研究成为近5年来旅游研究领域的热点。国外研究综述表明,目前已识别旅游业能耗、排放的重点领域及结构;在旅游业能源消耗与二氧化碳排放的定量估算研究与情景分析方面形成初步结论。对不同类型旅游交通方式、住宿方式及旅游活动的单位能耗和排放强度等关键性参数取得一般性认识,并识别了明显的国别、地区及不同部门之间的差异。基本形成体系化的节能减排政策措施。基于国内外旅游业能源需求与二氧化碳排放的结构与途径、测算、预测与情景分析及节能减排对策与措施等方面对比研究,作者指出未来国内研究应重点加强旅游交通和住宿业等重点领域能源需求与排放的定量实证研究,加强旅游业能源需求与排放的预测分析和情景研究,加快推进旅游业气候政策研究,切实提高旅游业应对气候变化和节能减排的研究水平,提高政策措施针对性和可操作性,以期为我国旅游业节能减排、应对气候变化提供科学依据。     

Food management in tourism: Reducing tourism’s carbon ‘foodprint’

Food production and consumption have a range of sustainability implications, including their contribution to global emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). As some foodstuffs entail higher GHG emissions than others, managing their use in tourism-related contexts could make a significant contribution to climate change mitigation. This article reviews the carbon intensity of selected foods and discusses how foodservice providers could adapt their practices. It shows that even though food management could substantially reduce the GHG emissions of foodservice providers, its application is currently hampered by the complexity of food production chains and a lack of dependable data on the GHG intensity of foodstuffs. Nevertheless, it is possible to make a number of recommendations in respect of how foodservice providers can better purchase, prepare and present foods. Further research is now needed to refine and extend our understanding of the contribution that food management can make to reducing tourism’s carbon ‘foodprint’.     

Exploring people's viewpoints on air travel and climate change: understanding inconsistencies

This study aims to objectify people's subjective viewpoints toward air travel and climate change. Using an online questionnaire, a series of statements about aviation and the environment were scored by 491 subjects in the Netherlands. Through factorization of the response patterns six distinct viewpoints on aviation and climate change are revealed and identified as integration, ignorance, denial, necessity, guilt and indulgence/fatalism. Each viewpoint is shown to be associated with fitting levels of air travel behavior and general environmental awareness. As in previous research, it is shown that air travel behavior does not significantly correlate with general environmental awareness. Notable differences were found, however, between those subjects under 30 years old and those over 30 years old: the older group were much more likely to claim both necessity and indulgence/fatalism as a reason for flying. The results add to our understanding of attitude-behavior inconsistency by revealing how people from their own standpoints reconcile and/or prevent possible inconsistencies between certain air travel behaviors and pro-environmental attitudes. Practically, the viewpoints offer more effective sustainability discourses, and point to several new policy measures to remove the “sting” from the denial position by enhancing the credibility of the “rationalization of lifestyle” discourse.     

Developments in the European inclusive travel business

This article emphasizes the importance of transport to the tourism industry and in particular the part played by air transport in international travel. Air travel accounts for 60%–70% of all international journeys to and from the UK. The inclusive tours (IT) sector - largely developed in the UK and FR Germany - represents an increasing proportion of UK airline passengers. Larger aircraft are being brought into use by UK airlines to cope with increasing demand. The increasing tendency to long-haul travel favours the scheduled airlines but charter services can cater for small traffic flows and thus benefit new destinations.     

Leadership through service: An exploratory study of the leadership styles of tour leaders

The group package tour is one of the main modes of outbound travel in many parts of Asia. Tour leaders are part of the product and are therefore key front-line players in the tourism industry as they service guests during a journey. A tour leader’s style of leadership transforms a tourist visit from a tour into an experience and is a critical factor affecting a tourist’s satisfaction with their tour. This study identifies the various different styles of tour leadership using in-depth interviews to collect data. Three dimensions of leadership style in tour leaders were found: concern for tasks, concern for customers, and concern for controlling the group climate. The authors discuss the implications of their findings and make recommendations for travel agencies.     

Carbon dioxide emissions from transport in Taiwan's national parks

Transport profoundly affects energy use and carbon dioxide emissions in the tourism sector. This study focuses on five national parks in Taiwan, namely Kenting National Park, Yushan National Park, Yangmingshan National Park, Taroko National Park and Sheipa National Park, and applies a bottom-up approach to determine the amount of CO₂ emissions from domestic tourism transport in 1999–2006. The CO₂ emission factor of private car derived in this study reveals a higher value than that of previous study due to its lower load factors. Moreover, CO₂ emissions per person are different in each national park, influenced by the attributes of travel distance and transport mode. The scenario analysis indicates that CO₂ emission can be reduced by increasing load factors of transport, tourist switching from private cars to public transport and going to destinations close to their points of departure, which can be achieved by authorities through activity management, regulation control and price adjustment. This is also an adequate solution for Taiwan Government owing to the increases in transport volume and the limited tourism budget.     

Estimating the tourism induced environmental Kuznets curve in France

Abstract

France has retained its position as the world’s favourite tourism destination. Accounting for around 83 million visitors and 4.2% of the total employment, the tourism sector in France contributes to nearly 9% of the total GDP. However, as reported by the World Tourism Organization, road and air travel related to tourism activities account for approximately 10% of the total CO₂ emissions in the atmosphere, thereby contributing to severe air pollution. Thus, initiatives are necessary to prevent environmental damage that could have a corresponding detrimental effect on the tourism industry itself and slow down the country’s economic growth. This study utilises a vector error correction model (VECM) to investigate the relationship between polluting emissions, GDP levels, and tourism flows in France to test the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for the period 1995–2014. Additionally, based on a joint analysis of long-run parameters and causality links, appropriate policy strategies are proposed to promote robust and sustainable long-run economic growth.