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Extreme weather events are affecting the entire world at an increasing and alarming pace. Human activity is driving climate change. Given the urgency and severity of the crisis, we should adopt the term “climate collapse” to more properly convey the emergency to industry and the public.

The travel and tourism industry, which accounts for 10% of global GDP, employs 320 million people and creates 1 in 5 new jobs, is at risk owing to increasing numbers and severity of fires, floods, drought and super storms, as well as high heat and sea level rise. The industry must mitigate its impact on the climate to reduce its emissions and support its economic survival. 

Some major industry actors are rising to the challenge by committing to science-based targets initiatives (SBTi) – an initiative that validates companies’ carbon emissions reduction plan. While these steps are encouraging, only 75 travel and 27 hospitality companies have committed to SBTi (1.6% and 0.6% respectively of all 4,644 SBTi client companies around the world).

The industry must do much more to meaningfully mitigate and reverse climate collapse.

The travel and tourism industry has roared back from Covid-19 and is projected to grow significantly over the next decade and beyond. Combatting overtourism is critical as part of an overall more sustainable and responsible tourism ethos and model, and to reaching net zero goals.

When responsible tourism was defined in 2002, right before the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, there was no specific mention of the impact of the industry on climate change. In just 20 years it has become evident that this is now the industry’s top priority.

Hospitality sector

All major hospitality players have embraced the environmental, social and governance (ESG) model and are committed to reducing their carbon footprint. They are working toward reducing the impact of their buildings by retrofitting old ones and imposing stricter environmental rules on developers, architects, designers and engineers, using certifications such as LEED or BREEAM.

For almost 20 years, these companies have given guidance and regulations to their assets to develop a more sustainable approach to their operations, from renewable energy, energy efficiency and water conservation, to local employment and supporting cultural heritage. They have developed their own corporate responsibility measurement platforms and most hotel management companies have set up science-based targets (SBTi) for 2030.

But they will not succeed without buy-in from REITS (real estate investment trusts) and smaller owners or franchisees who are the true decision-makers when it comes to necessary investments for technical adjustments to their buildings and operations.

Like many other industries the hospitality industry relies on many important stakeholders in supply chains who will all need to be aligned to the same goals. 

Only 25 years ago almost no one in the sector was focused on responsible tourism, so there are reasons for hope that by 2030, more actors will be thoroughly involved thanks to the attention that client corporations and individual customers are giving to a more responsible approach.

Aviation industry

There is much talk about the impact of aviation on global greenhouse gas emissions. It accounts for 1.9% – far less than livestock and manure for instance (5.8%) and textile industry (10%). That being said, it is important to work on reducing the industry’s emissions as they will keep growing in years to come.

There are two main opportunities offering signs of hope: sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and electric planes:

• SAF, produced from food, oil waste and biomass, should become more efficient by 2035. These fuels are currently used as support to kerosene during many flights.
• Electric and hybrid planes will become a reality by the end of this decade, even if just for short haul. They will meet the requirements of regional flights, private jets and some charter flights.

Becoming a net-zero industry will be a long journey for aviation but its main actors are committed to fulfill that objective by 2050.

Cruise lines

The cruise line sector has come under a lot of scrutiny and major operators have now committed to running more responsible operations and using more sustainable fuels. Its net-zero commitments usually target 2050 – and hopefully research and development will help them reach these goals earlier. 

Tour operators, travel advisors, distribution channels

These important actors all include sustainability criteria in their programmes and platforms and deliver badges to hotels. They usually rely on accredited or recognised standards from the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).

Trade organisations, such as SHA, WTTC and Travalyst, have created minimum standards and best practices for the industry and recently partnered with GSTC. 

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)

After a first decade of operations during which the GSTC became the common denominator for all sustainable hospitality and destination certifications, the criteria is now recognized by all tourism stakeholders and is the best reference for all actors of the industry.

Another evolution that offers great optimism is the fact that countries like Turkey, Greece and Singapore have adopted the GSTC criteria and are using it to support the industry’s adaptation to Responsible Tourism.

Whilst there is still much to do before responsible tourism becomes a common journey for all industry stakeholders, a lot has been accomplished in the past 20 years. 

The long journey to net zero will reach a checkpoint in 2030, following the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development, and a formal date of 2050 to be fully realised and achieved. Measurement, ongoing reporting and transparency are critical to ensure meaningful progress continues, rather than waiting until 2030 to understand if strategies are working and taking corrective actions if needed. 

It is reasonable to say that those engaging their company in 2050 goals today will no longer be at the helm when 2050 arrives. Their legacy will depend upon the seriousness of their current engagement and the strategies to support it.

Failure is not an option: future generations rely on the accountability of those who have the power today to make a major difference to reversing the climate collapse.

Stuart Greif is chief strategy, innovation and operating officer at Forbes Travel Guide and Herve Houdre is founder and chief executive of H2 Sustainability Consulting.

This article is republished from the World Economic Forum under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

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Over the last months, the raison d’être of winter sports has been threatened more than ever by a range of challenges and controversies. From the occupation by activists of the glacier of Girose, Southeastern France, to protest against plans for a new cable car, to doubts over whether to hold pre-season sporting events following the partial destruction of the Théodule glacier in Switzerland, scarce snow is pitting people against one another.

Behind all these tensions lies the same question: what does the future hold for skiing on an overheating planet?

In recent decades, France has seen some ski resorts close due to a lack of snow or a sustainable business model. However, the majority of resorts continue to cling to the hope of adapting to rising temperatures. But will reproducing the tried and tested recipes of the past be enough to meet the climate challenges ahead?

Published in Nature Climate Change, our study of 2,234 winter sports resorts in Europe sought to measure the impact of global warming on snowmaking in resorts, and the possible room for manoeuvre available to adapt.

This question is not just a concern for amateur or professional skiers. Skiing is also an economic issue, with a total turnover estimated at 30 billion euros in Europe. In France alone, 120,000 jobs depending directly and indirectly on the ski economy.

53% of ski resorts are at risk of running out of snow at +2°C

Climate change is a global phenomenon impacting resorts worldwide, but not all mountain areas are affected to the same degree or with the same speed, and the ability to limit the impact of these changes through snow production also varies greatly. We have measured the impact of climate change on winter sports resorts based on the level of global warming, using the graphical representation, commonly used in IPCC reports, of “burning embers”.

At 2°C of global warming above pre-industrial levels, 53% of European resorts are at very high risk of low snowfall. We assess the risk of low snowfall on the basis of the frequency of snow conditions considered to be the most unfavourable, those encountered on average one season in five between 1961 and 1990, the golden age of resort development.

However, the picture varies at a national level: in the French Alps, this proportion concerns a third of resorts, while in the Pyrenees and in the Franco-Swiss mid-mountain massifs, 89% and 80% respectively of resorts are affected by a very high level of risk of low snowfall.

At 4°C of global warming, 98% of European resorts are at very high risk of low snowfall. With this level of warming, the climate leaves winter sports resorts little margin for adaptation.

Changes in the use of snow production

One of the most popular solutions to adapt to scarcer snow is snowmaking, also known as “artificial snow”. Snow production involves projecting micro-droplets of water into the atmosphere so that they freeze before falling back to the ground. The resulting snow, made up of small balls of ice, is a suitable material for making an underlay.

In the past, snow was produced mainly to limit the impact of natural fluctuations in snow cover from one season to the next. Snow is now mainly produced in the pre-season, without any knowledge of the weather conditions for the coming winter, and then on a more ad hoc basis if necessary between the Christmas and winter holidays.

Snow production also affected by rising temperatures

Like natural snow, snow production is affected by rising temperatures, because snow production requires sufficiently cold weather conditions. This dual pressure is leading to increased investment to ensure that sufficient snow can be produced, thereby increasing the dependency of mountain resorts on snow tourism.

Not all ski resorts will equally be able to adapt to rising temperatures by producing snow. At +2°C global warming, snowmaking, if applied to 50% of the ski area, would reduce the proportion of resorts exposed to a very high risk of low snowfall in the Alps and Pyrenees to 7% and 9% respectively, while in the mid-range mountain ranges the proportion would be 56%. These differences are even more marked at higher levels of warming.

However, it should be remembered that while the level of snow cover is critical to ensuring resorts’ long-term socio-economic viability, other criteria are just as fundamental, such as the state of the ski lift network, promotion/marketing methods, or accommodation capacity and its attractiveness. It is therefore not possible to draw any direct conclusions from the figures for the risk of low snowfall as to the proportion or number of resorts likely to cease skiing.

The carbon footprint of snow production

What’s more, snow production is not carbon-neutral, so it’s important to bear this in mind before setting this technique up as the ultimate answer to reducing snow cover.

We have therefore also calculated the water requirements, production and energy demand involved, and the carbon footprint of the electricity used to produce snow. Over the reference period (1961-1990), the total quantity of snow produced on the slopes covered by the installations represents 13% of the total precipitation that falls annually on these same slopes. Assuming that 50% of the slopes are covered by snowmaking facilities, the total volume should increase by between 8% and 25%, depending on the country, for a warming of +2°C, and even more for a more marked warming.

This demand also tends to stagger over time, with lower production in November due to fewer cold spells favourable to production at the start of winter. It is therefore likely that the services provided by snow production will not be the same as in the past, which could make snow cover even more fragile over the high season.

In any case, the total volume of water that could be needed remains moderate, and a large part of this water is returned to the rivers as it melts. This is not to say complications can’t occur at a local scale further down the line, depending on how the water is drawn and of the makeup of affected ecosystems.

Similarly, at around 80 kt eq CO₂, the carbon footprint of the electricity used to produce snow remains limited, even if it varies greatly depending on countries’ energy mix.

Skiers’ transport and accommodation still emit a lot of CO₂

Finally, it is impossible to dissociate snow production from the tourism activity that calls for it. In reality, it is responsible for only a fraction of the carbon footprint of a winter sports tourist destination, with skiers’ transport and accommodation proving most polluting. Carbon emissions could nevertheless rise as people travel further and further afield to find snow.

Would the economic benefits be worth it? Our study calls on the tourism sector to craft a strategy based on climate adaptation and decarbonisation as resorts look to the future.

Authored by National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment tourism and information system research engineer Hugues François, Meteo France climatology and climate services engineer Raphaëlle Samacoïts, and National Meteorological Research Center researcher and director Samuel Morin.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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Despite travel and tourism supporting an estimated 10% of global gross domestic product and roughly one in 10 jobs worldwide, consumers are increasingly aware of the environmental impacts of their wanderlust. 

While many tourists are aware of sustainable travel and tourism, research conducted by Visa and Oxford Economics found that 41% feel they lack information about sustainable travel options, and 36% feel that available information is not credible.

As a global network facilitating payments across these journeys, Visa has a unique view of travellers’ consumption choices and patterns – and an incredibly powerful data set that can help transform the future of travel. But it will take more than the private sector alone to successfully implement change. 

As the world’s leaders gather in Dubai this week at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP28, here are four ways that the private and public sectors can think about teaming up in their effort to slow the impact of travel and tourism and protect local communities and ecosystems:

1. Speak the same language

I’m not suggesting that the Tower of Babel could solve the issue of sustainable travel, but the public and private sectors need to come together to agree on a framework for measuring trends in sustainability. Having access to and agreed parameters about how to collect and use high-quality data is a vital resource, allowing policy-makers and businesses to set targets and gauge progress.

Frameworks such as the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Development Index and the European Commission’s European Tourism Indicators System have proliferated, yet there remains a lack of clarity regarding what constitutes a sustainable travel choice. The private sector can help the public sector close that gap by leveraging the power of alternative sources such as payment transaction data, AI and more.

2. Help close the ‘say-do’ gap

There has long been a notable “say-do” gap in travellers’ stated preferences versus their actual consumption patterns. Visa’s research finds that this gap is largely driven by information barriers: both informational gaps like a lack of accessible information and credibility gaps where information is available but not trusted. 

In the payments industry, offering sustainability-focused benefits to cardholder products can enable cardholders to understand the environmental impact of their spending, potentially helping to narrow the say-do gap by encouraging sustainable consumption. How much change we can drive depends on how successful the public and private sectors are at coming together to ensure that consumers have easy access to credible information about sustainable choices.

3. Make local transit truly accessible

Whenever someone visits me in London for the first time, their knee-jerk (and jet-lagged) response to landing at Heathrow is to hop in a taxi. Not only is that a carbon-intensive means of getting around – it’s just not that efficient given traffic and other delays. Tap your phone to ride on the Heathrow Express and you’ll get into the city much quicker, or those on a budget can take the London Underground.

The public and private sectors need to continue to come together to make public transit a simpler way to get around as a tourist. Removing entry barriers with contactless payments is one important way – but there’s even more innovation to be done as new hyper-customised trip-planning apps and technology become available that can tell tourists the fastest or most sustainable way to get around town.

4. Realize that sometimes it is about the destination

When too many people visit an attraction at one time, it may have negative repercussions for local communities and ecosystems. The public and private sectors must come together to encourage attractions and destination management in order to prevent overtourism.

Beaches are a prime example of destinations that are often overcrowded, to the detriment of the local ecosystem. Some national parks in the US, on the other hand, are good examples of places that have successfully implemented reasonable limits on visitors. For example, Muir Woods National Monument in Marin County, California requires visitors to book a reservation in advance.

By taking steps such as imposing reasonable limits on the number of visitors, promoting off-season travel, and introducing dynamic pricing, attractions can limit the likelihood and negative impacts of overtourism. 

For example, Visa Destination Insights helped the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority manage both overcrowding and seasonal lulls at the ski and holiday hotspot on the California/Nevada border. Ultimately, sustainable management of attractions will require careful stewardship and close collaboration between the public and private sectors.

There’s a lot of work ahead – but by bringing together the strength of the public and private sectors, we can strive towards meaningful change.

This article is republished from the World Economic Forum under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article here.

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The [northern hemisphere] summer of 2023 has been very significant for the travel industry. By the end of July, international tourist arrivals globally reached 84% of pre-pandemic levels. In some European countries, such as France, Denmark and Ireland, tourism demand even surpassed its pre-pandemic level.

This may be great news economically, but there’s concern that a return to the status quo is already showing dire environmental and social consequences.

The summer saw record-breaking heatwaves across many parts of the world. People were forced to flee wildfires in Greece and Hawaii, and extreme weather warnings were issued in many popular holiday destinations like Portugal, Spain and Turkey. Experts attributed these extreme conditions to climate change.

Tourism is part of the problem. The tourism sector generates around one-tenth of the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving the climate crisis.

The negative impacts of tourism on the environment have become so severe that some are suggesting drastic changes to our travel habits are inevitable. In a report from 2023 that analysed the future of sustainable travel, tour operator Intrepid Travel proposed that “carbon passports” will soon become a reality if the tourism industry hopes to survive.

What is a carbon passport?

The idea of a carbon passport centres on each traveller being assigned a yearly carbon allowance that they cannot exceed. These allowances can then “ration” travel.

This concept may seem extreme. But the idea of personal carbon allowances is not new. A similar concept (called “personal carbon trading”) was discussed in the [UK’s] House of Commons in 2008, before being shut down due to its perceived complexity and the possibility of public resistance.

The average annual carbon footprint for a person in the US is 16 tonnes – one of the highest rates in the world. In the UK this figure sits at 11.7 tonnes, still more than five times the figure recommended by the Paris Agreement to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C.

Globally, the average annual carbon footprint of a person is closer to 4 tonnes. But, to have the best chance of preventing temperature rise from overshooting 2°C, the average global carbon footprint needs to drop to under 2 tonnes by 2050. This figure equates to around two return flights between London and New York.

Intrepid Travel’s report predicts that we will see carbon passports in action by 2040. However, several laws and restrictions have been put in place over the past year that suggest our travel habits may already be on the verge of change.

Targeting air travel

Between 2013 and 2018, the amount of CO₂ emitted by commercial aircrafts worldwide increased by 32%. Improvements in fuel efficiency are slowly reducing per passenger emissions. But research from 2014 found that whatever the industry’s efforts to reduce its carbon emissions, they will be outweighed by the growth in air traffic.

For emission reductions to have any meaningful effect, ticket prices would have to rise by 1.4% each year, discouraging some people from flying. However, in reality, ticket prices are falling.

Some European countries are beginning to take measures to reduce air travel. As of 1 April 2023, passengers on short-haul flights and older aircraft in Belgium have been subject to increased taxes to encourage alternative forms of travel.

Less than two months later, France banned short-haul domestic flights where the same trip can be made by train in two-and-a-half hours or less. Spain is expected to follow suit.

A similar scheme could also be on the horizon for Germany. In 2021, a YouGov poll found that 70% of Germans would support such measures to fight climate change if alternative transport routes like trains or ships were available.

Cruises and carbon

It’s not just air travel that’s being criticised. An investigation by the European Federation for Transport and Environment in 2023 found that cruise ships pump four times as many sulphuric gases (which are proven to cause acid rain and several respiratory conditions) into the atmosphere than all of Europe’s 291 million cars combined.

Statistics like these have forced European destinations to take action against the cruise industry. In July, Amsterdam’s council banned cruise ships from docking in the city centre in a bid to reduce tourism and pollution – an initiative that has shown success elsewhere.

In 2019, Venice was the most polluted European port, due to large numbers of cruise ship visits. But it dropped to 41st place in 2022 after a ban on large cruise ships entering the city’s waters reduced air pollutants from ships in Venice by 80%.

Changing destinations

Intrepid Travel’s report also highlights that not only how we travel, but where we travel will soon be impacted by climate change. Boiling temperatures will probably diminish the allure of traditional beach destinations, prompting European tourists to search for cooler destinations such as Belgium, Slovenia and Poland for their summer holidays.

Several travel agencies reported seeing noticeable increases in holiday bookings to cooler European destinations like Scandinavia, Ireland and the UK during 2023’s peak summer travel months.

Whatever the solution may be, changes to our travel habits look inevitable. Destinations across the globe, from Barcelona to the Italian riveria and even Mount Everest are already calling for limits on tourist numbers as they struggle to cope with crowds and pollution.

Holidaymakers should prepare to change their travel habits now, before this change is forced upon them.

Ross Bennett-Cook is a visiting lecturer at the University of Westminster’s school of architecture and cities.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here.

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The travel and tourism sector entered 2023 like a marathon runner hitting the last six miles of a race. It fought its way through almost two years of the Covid-19 pandemic — only to be overwhelmed, as the disease waned, by an unprecedented surge in travel by people tired of quarantines and lockdowns.

With many in the sector still struggling to fill their workforces to handle this significant uptake of travel, big and small companies alike now face their next challenge — the accelerating transition from voluntary to mandatory sustainability reporting. Are they ready for it?

In 2024, the first wave of tougher mandatory regulation on sustainability disclosure takes effect as new European Union sustainability rules start to compel the largest companies operating in the bloc to begin gathering data on greenhouse gas emissions.

These new rules — including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive — also require companies to submit annual transition plans for reducing emissions. Plans must be compliant with limiting the rise in Earth’s temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius — a target set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement — with the progress on meeting those goals available to corporate stakeholders and the public annually.

But the last couple of years have been busy when it came to sustainability. Not only did the EU impose new mandatory regulations, so did the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, India, and Singapore.

The Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States is also expected to move in the next few months to adopt similar Climate Disclosure Requirements that would make formerly voluntary emissions disclosures mandatory for US publicly registered companies.

Most recently, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) — affiliated with the influential International Accounting Standards Board — released what will eventually become the international norm for sustainability accounting. All the new standards require disclosure of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for corporate accounting.

New report and survey

Given the deluge of new mandatory standards, it’s time for travel and tourism to assess how prepared the sector is. After surveying sector members for a report expected to be released in the fourth quarter, the WTTC and Oliver Wyman have concluded there is still considerable work to be done before the sector will be up to the task.

According to WTTC’s groundbreaking research, travel and tourism is currently responsible for 8.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. While many of the sector’s biggest companies have set 2050 emission-reduction targets, just as many have just started to consider how to address climate change in their business. Thus, there is a wide range of understanding and readiness in travel and tourism when it comes to the upcoming reporting requirements.

Navigating the compliance landscape will be no easy task — especially for a sector with operations spanning multiple countries and enterprises that run from a few employees to thousands. Even in a single jurisdiction, the complexities of managing multiple subsidiaries, suppliers, and partnerships will be daunting.

These hurdles become even higher, considering that 80% of sector members are small and midsize companies with limited resources to invest in new personnel and technology. Recognising this, WTTC and Oliver Wyman will be including in the upcoming report a tool to help the sector navigate the requirements.

Company trepidations

One concern raised by most participants in our survey was the sector’s lack of resources, capabilities, and expertise to tackle the demands of the new regulations. In the past at many travel and tourism companies, sustainability personnel were more likely to deal with branding and marketing or operational issues than with accounting or data collection.

But compliance with these kinds of rigorous sustainability disclosures rises above a mere accounting exercise to become more of an organisation-wide shift in culture, and sustainability teams will not be able to tackle the upcoming challenge alone. More education and internal expertise on sustainability will be needed across organisations.

Another challenge facing the sector is data collection. The broad and fragmented value chains of many companies in the sector, make it not only difficult to ensure that data is assembled in a timely manner, but also that the information on emissions — especially Scope 3 emissions, which are produced by a company’s upstream suppliers and downstream users — is in fact accurate. With the absence of sector-specific guidance, some form of sector collaboration may be needed for the first few years.

Generally, companies are struggling to reconcile the investment needed in new data collection capabilities with investment already being made in initiatives to reduce emissions and meet other environmental, social, and governance goals.

Of course, at the same time, additional spending on new personnel and operations has been required across most organisations to meet the rising demand.

But ready or not, the regulations have arrived, and especially for the biggest companies and networks, the time to act is now.

The good news for the sector is the potential benefit travel and tourism enjoys from any efforts to preserve nature and the planet’s hospitable climate. Few sectors will be challenged more by the rise in severe weather and environmental crises as well as the disappearance of Earth’s biodiversity, which should provide adequate incentive for companies to go beyond mere compliance.

Christopher Imbsen is director of sustainability at WTTC, and Dan Darcy is principal of transportation and services practice at Oliver Wyman.

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As the observed effects of climate change intensify, the chorus asking how a more sustainable tourism future can be achieved has amplified, and rightly so.

Contentions regarding the sustainability credentials of tourism have heightened and links between popular destinations and crises have become ever more noticeable. Summer wildfires this year in Hawaii, Italy and Greece illustrate a sector prone to external and internal shocks. Yet, it remains a sector that is critical to supporting the livelihoods of many. 

Throw into the mix the sector’s carbon intensity, the tendency for tourist demand to overwhelm local well-being, the environmental effects of inappropriate tourism developments and, on the flip side, its vital economic contributions, the urgency to optimise its potential to destination communities and minimize its shortcomings is pressing.

What then are salient issues that might lead to more sustainable tourism futures and the desire for a more benign tourism sector?

The tourism-conservation nexus

Tourism and conservation are natural allies, yet questions remain about whether they hinder or help conservation efforts. Wildlife tourism is projected to be a US$300bn global business by 2032 as the desire of travellers to get closer to nature grows. 

The Great Barrier Reef, for example, a major tourist drawcard, contributes US$4.8bn to Australia’s economy and supports 64,000 jobs. After multiple mass coral bleaching events exacerbated by climate change, its placement on the UNESCO endangered list is called for. On the upside, however, there are signs that citizen science is helping tourists contribute to conservation efforts.

In Rwanda, high-priced education programmes targeted at tourists have underwritten mountain gorilla conservation efforts. As the population of these animals have increased, it provides evidence of the potential for tourism to contribute in measurable ways to the conservation imperative.

Sustainable tourism messaging

With myriad appeals for tourists to act more responsibly, how can messaging be more impactful in driving behaviour change? Sustainable development is reinforced and the Sustainable Development Goals are prominent, but how can we strengthen the messaging?

The new normal was to have led to a heightened awareness of travelling responsibly. The 2023 Global Sustainability Research study noted that 43% of consumers would reject buying from companies that were not acting in socially or environmentally responsible ways. According to the 2022 Global Travel Trends Report, 78% of respondents desired to make positive impacts on the communities they visited. 

The appetite to be more responsible is apparent. Closing the ‘intention-action’ gap remains a challenge, however. Alas, this challenge transcends tourism.

Mitigating food waste

Food waste accounts for 8% – 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions – three times as much as aviation industry emissions. And rotting food produces methane that is evidently more environmentally harmful than carbon dioxide.

Hotels produce a staggering 79,000 tons of food waste annually and the urgency to address this wonton wastage is pressing. Operational measures to reverse this trend are overdue and myriad approaches are called for, including resizing serving portions, rethinking kitchen management and staff training, devising innovative responses to repurposing leftovers, including donating to community organizations and insisting on optimising the use of the ‘whole’ ingredient.

Carnival Corporation, for example, has installed ‘biodigesters‘ across 600 cruise ships to process organic waste. This has led to a reduction in food waste by more than 30% per person, with aggressive goals to reach 40% by 2025 and 50% by 2030. This signals that incremental change can happen.

Workforce shortages

As the tourism recovery gains momentum and 2019 tourist visitation levels are realized, the challenge to secure a stable and well-trained workforce is a drag on the sustainability of sector enterprises. The post-COVID-19-pandemic exodus of workers and their reluctance to return adds further pressure to a sector desperate to return to growth.

In 2019, the sector was estimated to comprise of nearly 1 in 10 jobs globally and of these, women accounted for more than 50%. Additionally, many tourism jobs are filled by migrants and young people. 

For a sector that is labour intensive, workforce shortages can be debilitating. Yet, just how the sector can convince people that employment and working conditions are attractive enough, remains a formidable constraint. Striving for decent work in the sector requires urgent consideration if the brain drain is to be stemmed.

Staff shortages experienced by airlines and accommodation providers have seen service standards decline and operating costs increase as cancellations or scaling back of services intensify financial pressures.

Where to for sustainable tourism?

The genesis of sustainable tourism is linked to the 1987 Brundtland Report, more commonly known as the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. This report was a watershed that set the tone for the use of the term sustainable development, which, at its core, referenced the notion of intergenerational equity. 

Intergenerational equity rests on ensuring that what is being done today, should not compromise the planet for future generations. The emergence of regenerative tourism is a timely throwback to the Brundtland report.

Notwithstanding, climate change and its effects equivocate that evidence of an increasingly compromised planet contradicts suggestions that sustainable development is underway.

The four issues highlighted are clearly not exhaustive and comprise a sliver of broader concerns. Nonetheless, their illustration attempts to highlight the complex and diverse nature of the imperative towards more sustainable tourism futures. Buy-in towards a global compact for sustainable tourism is desperately sought. 

If the epitome of sustainable tourism is to leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but photographs, a long road lies ahead. Whither sustainable tourism?

Republished from the World Economic Forum in accordance with Creative Commons Attribution. Read the original article here.

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Since the significant easing of its pandemic border control measures last October, Japan has seen a steady return of foreign tourists.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), the number of visitors to Japan in July reached 2.32 million, recovering to about 80% of 2019 levels.

And Japanese people are travelling their own country more, too. According to the travel trend survey by Japan Travel Bureau (JTB), 72.5 million people in Japan travelled within their country during the summer vacation season in July and August — almost returning to pre-pandemic levels. International travel, meanwhile, was low: 1.2 million people, which is 40% of the 2019 figures.

Many people wished to travel abroad but were unable or unwilling to do so cited concerns about safety and health, the lengthy immigration procedures involved in international travel and the unfavourable exchange rates and high costs.

For the outbound recovery to gain momentum, a safe and economically enabling environment is essential.

Overtourism: a challenge to sustainability

As the influx of tourists revitalises local economies, a growing concern is emerging: the resurgence of overtourism, where popular destinations are flooded with an excessive number of visitors. In response, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has announced plans to develop solutions this coming autumn to combat overtourism, addressing its negative impacts on local life, including congestion, traffic jams and litter.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, overtourism had started to plague certain Japanese tourist spots. As Japan’s tourism industry and tourist destinations hit hard by the pandemic make strides toward recovery, it essential to view these challenges as opportunities for positive change and transform tourism into something more sustainable.

Hotels across Japan are accelerating their sustainability efforts. One noteworthy example is the Tokyo Station Hotel, located within the Tokyo Station building, which is designated as a National Important Cultural Property, is implementing the “CO₂ Zero STAY” programme to virtually eliminate CO₂ emissions generated during a stay by all rooms booked through the official website.

This initiative, which uses the carbon offset system, calculates and visualises the amount of CO₂ emissions generated by guest stays and invests the equivalent amount in emissions reduction activities, thereby reducing the emissions to virtually zero. All costs are covered by the hotel itself, meaning that guests contribute to expanding forest conservation efforts and supporting renewable energy simply by staying at the hotel.

Another player in the sustainable hospitality scene is Mori Trust Hotels & Resorts. They are taking steps to preserve tourism resources by introducing eco-friendly amenities like wooden and bamboo toothbrushes and hairbrushes, as well as razors and shower caps with reduced plastic content.

They are also eliminating individual packaging for soaps and amenities while charging for these items. The company is currently reassessing the amenities used in their 18 hotels nationwide, which collectively use around 16 tons of plastic each year, and aims to cut down the plastic used in amenities by over 90% by 2024.

Traveller behaviour and tourism

As hotels and other players in the tourism industry move towards a more sustainable future, it is equally crucial that travellers, who are the main drivers of tourism, follow suit and change their attitudes and behaviours.

According to the Sustainable Travel Report 2023, which gathered insights from over 33,000 travellers across 35 countries and territories, 76% of global travellers — and 56% of Japanese travellers — express a desire to embrace more sustainable travel over the coming 12 months.

On the other hand, 76% of global travellers and 75% of Japanese travellers say that the global energy crisis and rising costs are impacting their spending plans. This has led to travellers being more budget-conscious, with only 43% of global travellers and 22% of Japanese travellers willing to pay extra for certified sustainable travel experiences.

In light of this trend, offering discounts and financial incentives by tourism providers may motivate travellers to opt for sustainable travel options. Furthermore, providing more information and choices can also promote sustainable travel, since almost half of both global and Japanese travellers feel there are not enough sustainable travel options available to them.

Regenerative tourism: the future of tourism

Guests are the key to creating a sustainable environment. To achieve sustainable tourism that considers environmental, social and economic impacts, it is essential to change the mindset of travellers, who must act responsibly in terms of their impact on local communities and the natural environment. The realisation of a future in which regenerative tourism, a further evolution of sustainable tourism, becomes mainstream depends on changing the behaviour of both hosts and travellers.

In the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index 2021: Rebuilding for a Sustainable and Resilient Future, Japan took the top spot in the development index ranking.

Japan, a highly regarded tourist destination, is leading the way in the future of regenerative tourism — where the more tourists visit, the more the place changes for the better — which will have a significant impact on the transformation of the global tourism industry.

Naoko Tochibayashi is public engagement lead for the World Economic Forum Japan and Naoko Kutty is a writer for Forum Agenda. This article is republished in accordance with the Creative Commons. Read the original article here.

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In the wake of the pandemic, tourism is experiencing a period of transition in which two trends which were already prevalent pre-Covid-19 have gained momentum:

• Sustainability, together with climate change, the circular economy, and the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN’s 2030 Agenda
• Digitalisation, together with the new technological revolution

If we focus on sustainability, whilst still emphasising that technological ecosystems are essential for the development of tourism, we have to be aware that making sustainable that which has not been designed as such – a destination, a resort, a mode of transport, etc – is not easy, fast, or affordable.

This is especially true since, rather than conforming to standards, labels or certifications, we must change our relationship with the environment in order to be sustainable, rather than just appearing to be so.

Sustainability must be economical, environmental and social

When a term is used so frequently, its meaning tends to become diluted. In fact, in this case, the term sustainable tourism is increasingly being replaced by regenerative tourism.

Not all aspects of sustainability are addressed with equal emphasis. Economic sustainability is taken for granted and environmental sustainability is taken into immediate consideration, while social sustainability is put on the back burner (see, among many others, the case of Ibiza and the cost of housing).

If there is to be true social sustainability, which in turn drives economic and environmental sustainability, the governance of tourism has to evolve.

Before the pandemic, and in the post-pandemic period, news related to the sustainability of tourism appeared in the media.

Negative attitudes towards tourism are once again prevalent, although in reality these are not directed against tourism itself but against certain models of tourism development, the product of a certain governance where it is important to take a look at who makes decisions and how.

More than a one-off phenomenon, the problem of mass tourism is being tackled with various types of measures, such as the following:

• The use of fiscal measures(e.g. ecotaxes)
• Limiting the capacity of certain spaces (or even temporarily closing them)
• The use of variable prices to regulate demand
• The use of technological tools that assist in redirecting tourist flows, in an attempt to disperse the masses to other attractions that are not overcrowded (assuming that those affected wish to do so)
• The sanctioning of certain behaviour
• Limiting accommodation options

The case of the island of Sardinia and its beaches is perhaps less well known than others, but very telling in this context.

Appreciating tourism

The positive attitude of the population towards the impact of tourism development in their area may change significantly if the negative impact is perceived as outweighing the positive effects of it.

This happens when the tolerance level of the local community is exceeded and tourism no longer contributes positively to their quality of life. The problem arises when those who live there permanently begin to feel that friction with tourists disturbs and damages their lives to excess.

When no one asks them, listens to them, takes them into account and decisions are made that severely affect their lives, it is not surprising that citizens turn against tourism when, in reality, the problem is not tourism, but the management of it.

It is only by involving these communities in decision-making that we will find the missing link in tourism governance.

Today, we usually speak of co-governance rather than governance. In other words, public-private partnership: a two-way governance which, although necessary, is not sufficient because they alone are not the only stakeholders involved.

A partnership with citizens, in a broad sense, is essential to ensure their welfare and to avoid or reverse the trend of disconnection with tourism activities.

The point is that tourism is required as an economic activity that affects the entire community, and the latter is something that seems to be missing or unwilling to be addressed. Tourism should not be created by political and business representatives without the local people, but with them. That’s the big difference.

There is an added complexity, particularly in terms of legitimacy, in identifying the representatives of stakeholders in the territory and establishing effective participation mechanisms – not only with a voice, but also with a vote in certain decisions. However, this is the best way to support the tourism industry and to overcome mistrust and detachment.

We must move towards inclusive and integrative governance, with a three-pronged approach: public, private and community, whose study and application are virtually unknown fields.

The question is not so much of what to do, but how to do it: a new model of shared leadership must include a redistribution of power within the system, which will require an extra effort to break down barriers and overcome resistance.

Co-governance and well-being

To avoid negative attitudes towards tourism, and promote harmonious relationships between locals and visitors as a path to sustainability, tourism must be able to forge a broad alliance with society.

It is not about managing a destination, but a community with permanent residents and tourists, the latter being understood as temporary residents. The well-being of both must be at the core of the governance architecture.

Although there is usually short-sightedness in political decisions – marked by electoral horizons – and in business decision-making – especially if they are geared towards speculation and immediate returns – the lack of support from the local population will end up generating a boomerang effect.

Do we know the type of tourism development desired (or tolerated) by host communities? Are the voices of the local population heard and taken into account in the decision making processes, with a view to their well-being?

Local communities have a much more decisive role to play in consolidating democracies. A tourism-oriented society must be geared towards tourism and committed to its development and co-creation.

Alfonso Vargas Sánchez is a professor of business organisation and the strategic management of tourism at the University of Huelva, Spain. This article is republished from The Conversation in accordance with the Creative Commons. Read the original article here.

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The hospitality industry has an unmatched opportunity to lead decarbonisation in the travel and tourism sector.

The collective agreement made through the Glasgow Declaration aims for the sector to halve emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050. This, coupled with growing consumer interest in sustainable travel options, is setting the stage for tourism to decarbonise.

The end goal is clear but getting there won’t be easy, and all stakeholders need to recognise the on-the-ground realities for travellers and accommodation providers.

Consumers want climate-friendly options but are worried about the price of sustainable travel amidst rising inflation and cost-of-living woes.

Providers – especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – often lack the resources and sometimes knowledge to take the necessary steps towards becoming more sustainable; like retrofitting ventilation systems, powering rooms with renewable energy, or accurately accounting for their emissions.

In a recent report, the World Economic Forum tackled the question of How to Create the Sustainable Travel Products Customers Want. The knowing-doing gap is perhaps the biggest impediment, as is illustrated below, but the flip side of it, I believe, is a sustainability flywheel for climate action.

Any action, large or small, by travellers, providers or digital platforms, or other players in the tourism ecosystem feed off and reinforce each other, thus creating an ever stronger momentum behind the net-zero agenda.

Here are three ways the hospitality industry, travellers and travel platforms can work together make tourism more sustainable:

1. Recognise the realities for travellers

Booking.com’s research – gathered over eight years from more than 33,000 travellers across 35 countries and territories – shows that consumers are torn between a desire to travel more sustainably and a need to be mindful about their spending.

Three-quarters (76%) of people say they want to travel more sustainably over the coming 12 months, but the same proportion believe that the global energy crisis and the rising cost of living is impacting their spending plans.

It’s clear that consumers want the industry to bring the cost of sustainability down. Half (49%) of travellers believe that sustainable travel options are too expensive – they want discounts and incentives to encourage them to opt for climate-friendly options (up 12% from 2022), whilst 42% would be swayed to travel more sustainably with reward points that could be converted into free perks.

Travel providers also need to make sustainable options more obvious to consumers. Despite good intentions, almost half (44%) of people say they don’t know where to find more sustainable options.

About half (51%) believe that there aren’t enough options, and almost three-quarters (74%) want travel companies to offer more sustainable options (up from 66% in 2022). Tourism leaders can and should act now to rectify these issues.

2. Empower hospitality entrepreneurs to pursue sustainable practices

Driving sustainability in the accommodation industry is the other side of the coin – after all, travellers can’t select sustainable options if there are no properties to offer them.

Accommodation generates about 10% of the total annual emissions of the travel and tourism sector. Even though this is a relatively small fraction, the accommodation industry has a distinct advantage over others like aviation: it’s not dependent on technological breakthroughs to cut emissions. It’s a question of technology adoption rather than invention.

Notably, 75% of the potential emission savings for a typical hotel are associated with just three measures: retrofitting efficient heating, ventilation and cooling systems; using energy-efficient appliances; and installing double-glazed windows.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) is already leading these efforts by providing hotels with basic criteria for the implementation of sustainable practices that could form the basis of future sectoral standardisation.

But the capacity to reach net zero isn’t distributed evenly. Research from the WTTC shows that it’s harder for SMEs to define and pursue decarbonisation as opposed to the larger, more established brands with greater resources and expertise at their disposal.

Small hospitality entrepreneurs need financial aid to achieve net zero; but they also need guidance on how to make their businesses more sustainable.

A recent McKinsey study shows that methodologies like the marginal abatement cost curve (MACC) – a calculation and graph that measure and compare the costs and benefits of individual sustainability actions – can be highly effective at streamlining hotels’ decarbonisation plans.

Match supply with demand to accelerate action

Consumers who seek and hospitality entrepreneurs who provide sustainable options must be able to find each other if the sector is to achieve net zero by 2050.

And that’s where online travel platforms are uniquely positioned to make a difference. Booking.com’s Travel Sustainable initiative is but one example, where we introduced an internationally recognisable badge for properties who adopt independently verified sustainability practices.

For its part, the EU Commission’s draft directives on empowering consumers for the green transition and on green claims seek to instil trust in environmental labels and discourage greenwashing. Smart regulation in this realm will encourage investments in sustainability, increasing its scale and impact.

Thinking about synergies that travel consumers, providers, platforms, and regulators could unlock, an old proverb comes to mind: if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

On the topic of sustainability, we must go far and fast. But, thankfully, many of the tools and technologies to get the travel industry to net zero are already available. Now we need the willpower and work together to accelerate the flywheel.

Peter Lochbihler is global head of public affairs at Booking.com.

This article is republished from the World Economic Forum under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

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