How to make tourism greener

International tourism can play the role of both victim and villain when it comes to climate change.

By Stephanie Holmes, BBC News

Rising temperatures are already affecting snow-based destinations

It needs balmy weather, corals and coastlines - all under threat from rising temperatures and climate change.

But it also depends on energy-guzzling jumbo jets, air-conditioned hotel complexes and swimming pools kept pristine with environmentally damaging chemicals.

With the sector contributing to some 5% of global carbon emissions, its impact cannot be ignored.

"We have to talk about tourism and climate change," says Stefanos Fotiou of the United Nations Environment Programme (Unep).

"Tourism cannot grow sustainably without addressing the challenges of climate change."

Balancing the boom

The most recent figures from the UN World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) suggest that the industry continues to expand, with 610 million international tourist arrivals in the first eight months of 2007, 32 million more than in the same period last year.

The number is expected to swell to 1.6 billion by 2020.

Experts from the UNWTO say that industry is waking up to its responsibilities, aware that fuelling climate change, which degrades the very environment on which tourism depends, could undermine its business in the long term.

"A phenomenon of such magnitude cannot remain without consequences for the climate," UNWTO chief Francesco Frangialli told delegates at the World Tourism Market in London, where hundreds of representatives from the sector have gathered.

At least 60 tourism ministers have pledged to back a declaration drafted in Davos in October, committing to take "concerted action against climate change".

The agreement aims to adapt tourism to climate change, to mitigate its effects, to increase the use of alternative technologies and to channel funding for such efforts towards poorer countries, many of whom depend on tourism for a sizeable chunk of their economies.

Tourism is the primary source of foreign exchange earnings in 46 out of 50 of the world's least developed countries, according to the UNWTO.

The declaration contains no specific targets but for Geoffrey Lipman, of the UNWTO, it demonstrates governments' awareness of the balance between tourism and climate change.

"It's a first step on a road towards achieving targets. We wouldn't be here if we weren't committed to playing a part in the global response."

Breathing space

As a state dependent on long-haul tourism, Sri Lanka is one of the nations leading the way.

With 30% rainforest cover and home to 3,000 Asian elephants, the island has pledged to become an Earth Lung - a completely carbon clean sovereign state.

"Sri Lanka is a biodiversity hotspot," the country's Tourism Minister Renton de Alwis said.

The wide variety of flora and fauna indigenous to Sri Lanka's unique ecosystem makes it particularly vulnerable to climactic shifts.

"It is both an advantage and a responsibility for us. Little Sri Lanka has come up with the initiative to make us a carbon-neutral destination," Mr de Alwis said.

This will involve establishing codes of practice for the various tourism sectors, promoting reforestation and encouraging the use of alternative energy sources.

But other representatives from countries who depend on long-haul travel expressed reservations about targeting tourism to tackle climate change.

Australia warned against demonising aviation, Brazil insisted it should not shoulder a "disproportionate burden" and India pointed out that the best form of adaptation to climate change is development.

Dramatic action

But for many environmental lobbyists, any attempt to really alter tourism's impact on the planet must by definition, be drastic.

"Business as usual is not going to move us towards a carbon neutral world," said Jeff Gazzard, of the Aviation Environment Federation, who nevertheless welcomes the Davos declaration.

He insists that industry, as well as governments, must tackle the core issues, rather than trying to rid themselves of responsibility through measures like carbon offsetting - where individuals or companies balance their carbon output by financing green projects.

"If I hear the words 'carbon offsetting' once more, I will scream. These kind of papal indulgences were sold in the Middle Ages. It is like paying someone else to give up smoking," he said.

Any improvements in plane or fuel technology, he said, would be outpaced by growth in the sector, which expands by 3-4% per year.

Aviation spewed out some 610 mega-tons of carbon each year, he points out, more than the world's fourth biggest economy - the UK.

He predicts that, by 2010 the figure will rise to 776 mega-tons and, by 2025, it will reach 1,228 mega-tons.

He proposes a hefty passenger tax on aviation of 3.6 pence (74 cents) per kilometre which would flatten demand growth to 1-2% each year.

"This is an industry wedded to kerosene," he said. "There is no tax on aviation of any meaningful variety."

Changing behaviour

One powerful driver which lobbyists, governments and industry specialists agree upon is consumers, who can shape policy with their decisions.

This trend has spawned the rise of a wealth of options such as responsible or eco-tourism which seek to reconcile environmental impact with local benefit.

European tour operator Tui Travel, which provides vacations for 30 million customers per year, says clients are increasingly asking about the carbon impact when booking their holidays, even if is the last thing on their minds when they actually arrive.

The company is pioneering a scheme to rate the energy efficiency of hotels, expecting that customer demand will transform behaviour as tour operators withdraw from unsustainable hotels and destinations.

It is a trend that the Unep encourages. "With your choices you can make tourism respond to climate change," says Mr Fotiou.