UNWTO Political and Scientific Position Paper on Climate Change and Tourism

1.6 billion: That’s the number of international tourists expected to arrive at holiday destinations around the world in 2020.

It reflects not only a key source of income for countries but also the scale of an industry at the forefront of global climate change.

Tourism is inextricably tied to the environment, whether it’s snowboarding on the winter slopes of Hokkaido or scuba diving off the islands of Barbados, and if the earth’s temperature continues to rise as projected over the next few decades, the industry and the people it supports will feel the direct heat of those changes. The sector will also have a big role to play in keeping that general warming trend to a minimum.

In 2009, CARIBSAVE detailed those impacts and responsibilities in a report delivered at the 15^th Conference of Parties in Copenhagen by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.

It spelled out the negative and positive impacts of global warming on the travel industry and how those effects will vary substantially by region and sector.

Tourism is one of the best-known ways of redistributing wealth from rich nations to poor ones and from urban areas to rural zones. It is an economic cornerstone for many less-developed countries and so any impacts from climate change is certain to deal a bigger blow to these communities.

These threats are becoming clearer by the day and so too does the need to respond. The industry will need to work out how it will cope with changes in the length and quality of climate-dependent tourism seasons as well as changes in factors such as water availability, biodiversity loss, landscape degradation and coastal erosion.

The sector will also have to confront the challenges posed by national or international policies to cut greenhouse gas emissions, such as higher transport costs. These difficulties may be compounded by potential political unrest stemming from the economic toll of climate change.

It’s critical then that any agreement on climate change considers the disproportionate and wide-ranging effects that it will have on tourism-dependent economies.

Tourism also has a role to play in reducing emissions. The industry contributes about 5 per cent of global carbon dioxide discharged into the atmosphere and must work to cut this toll. But any progress will rely on partnership. The complexity and scale of the issues demands collaboration between government, business and community.