News - Articles - Work of Marrakech Process Task Force

Sustainable Tourism Seminar Builds on Work of Marrakech Process Task Force

A recent expert study on climate change and tourism concluded that carbon dioxide emissions from the global tourism sector in 2005, including from transport, accommodation and related activities, accounted for an estimated 5 per cent of total emissions.

That means if the tourism industry were a country, it would rank as the world’s 4th or 5th largest emitter, says Dr. Murray Simpson, a senior research associate at the Oxford University Centre for the Environment and an author of the study. Without mitigation measures, tourism’s contribution to CO2 emissions could grow by 150 per cent in the next 30 years, based on UNWTO market forecasts.

As far-reaching and serious as these impacts are, tourism should not be viewed as an “evil contributor” to climate change, Dr. Simpson explains.

Tourism is also vulnerable and highly sensitive to climate change, similar to the agriculture, energy and insurance sectors, with shocks felt in both the supply and demand of its services. Direct impacts, such as coastal erosion, sea-level rise, and increased incidence of disease brought on by climate change gradually dampen a country’s attractiveness among fickle holiday seekers.

The study – entitled Climate Change and Tourism: Responding to Global Challenges – was among such topics of conversation for 30 high-level tourism and environment officials from developing and small island nations who attended a seminar at the Centre to address climate change. The study was also the basis for the Second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism, held in Davos, Switzerland, which itself drew on previous work of the Marrakech Task Force on Sustainable Tourism.

National ministries of tourism and environment have a strong role to play in mitigating a country’s contribution to climate change, first and foremost by encouraging actors at every level to adjust their behaviour. For example, they can push transport providers to use different fuel types or reduce flight schedules, or ask hotel operators to use renewable energy sources and technologies. They can also inform tourists directly about ways to seek out activities that preserve a country’s natural resource base.

In those efforts, collaboration is essential – not just across industries, but within and between government bodies, says Dr. Simpson. “Climate change does not adhere to different ministerial responsibilities. It is vital that governments be aware of tourism as one of the world’s biggest industries that affects the livelihoods of people in enormous numbers.”

Indeed, tourism creates wealth and employment in the world’s poorest regions, ranking among the top two foreign income generators for 27 African nations. International arrivals around the continent are up 8 per cent from 2007 levels, according to World Tourism Organization data. Developing countries hold 40 per cent of the market share for worldwide international arrivals, which grew to 360 million in the 2000-2007 period.

Charting a new way forward, countries including Costa Rica, Norway, Scotland, Sri Lanka and New Zealand are considering bringing their nations to the point of carbon neutrality, meaning that each tonne of greenhouse gas sent into the atmosphere would be offset by an equivalent reduction elsewhere in the economy.

The high-level seminar was organized and coordinated by the United Nations Environment Programme; the Oxford University Centre for the Environment; the UN World Tourism Organization and the World Meteorological Organization.