The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has unveiled new data detailing the climate footprint of the global travel and tourism sector. The big news? Between 2010 and 2019 the travel and tourism’s GDP has grown on average 4.3 percent annually while its environmental footprint has only increased by 2.4 percent.
The divergence of the sector’s economic growth from its climate footprint between 2010 and 2019 is evidence that travel and tourism’s economic growth is decoupling from its greenhouse gas emissions. (These emissions have been falling consistently since 2010 as the result of technological developments, as well as the introduction of energy-efficiency measures across industries within the sector.)
The findings, titled “Environmental & Social Research,” were announced on Tuesday, November 29, at the 22nd Global Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia by World Travel & Tourism Council President and CEO Julia Simpson and the Saudi-based Sustainable Global Tourism Center. The comprehensive research covers 185 countries across all regions and will be updated each year with the latest figures.
Thanks to the research, WTTC says it can for the first time ever accurately report and track the impact industries within the sector have on the environment. Therefore, governments around the world now have a tool to inform their decision-making and accelerate environmental change more accurately. Along those lines, Simpson said, “Travel and tourism is making huge strides to decarbonize, but governments must set the framework. We need a steely focus on increasing the production of sustainable aviation fuels with government incentives. The technology exists. We also need greater use of renewable energy in our national grids—so when we turn on a light in a hotel room, it is using a sustainable energy source.”
Previous estimates have suggested that the global travel and tourism sector was responsible for up to 11 percent of all emissions; however, WTTC’s research shows that in 2019 the sector’s greenhouse gas emissions totaled just 8.1 percent globally. That 8.1 percent “is the stake in the ground,” added Simpson.
The broader “Environmental & Social Research” project will include measures of the sector’s impact against a range of indicators, including pollutants, energy sources, water use, as well as social data, including age, wage and gender profiles of travel and tourism-related employment. WTTC will continue to announce new data on how the sector fares against these indicators throughout 2023.
Visit www.wttc.org.
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