The Green Traveller: Climate Change and Tourism

Climate change is without doubt the hottest issue on the global environmental agenda. Whilst a decade ago media coverage and debate centred upon whether the science of climate change was reliable, now the facts of climate change are no longer under dispute: global warming is a reality. What is at stake, however, is how the world should respond to the threats posed by global warming. Whatever complex terms the international negotiating community may use, the key cards upon the political negotiating tables are actually about changes in lifestyles and livelihoods.

It is increasingly becoming clearer that action will be required at the international, national, local and, importantly, personal levels. To illustrate this point, personal choices about “green travel”, “responsible travel” or “off-setting” air travel emissions are becoming more prominent in a tourist’s decisions about where and how to travel on holidays. Mintel, the international market research agency, estimates the current size of the green travel market in the UK, Kenya’s key source market, at over a million responsible holidays taken in 2006 worth a total £409 million pounds. Mintel predicts a 25% growth in this market year on year. The UK’s Carbon Trust rekons the market for voluntary offsets for carbon emissions incurred by air travel is growing by 60% a year in Britain. Whilst green travel or carbon off-setts are by no means mainstreamed within the overall travel and tourism industry, the rapid growth trends cannot be ignored.

In the first of a series of articles exploring tourism and climate change, Anjali Saini introduces the key issues affecting the industry. The second article in the series will investigate how global responses to climate change are being formed and how these may affect the tourism industry locally. This includes a discussion on voluntary off-setting flight emissions, what the carbon finance markets are all about and how they can potentially be tapped into. The final article in the series will further explore the increasing importance of the “responsible travel” markets.

The two-way relationship

The World Tourism Organisation asks that the tourism industry recognises a two-way relationship between tourism and climate change. “On the one hand, tourism has an obligation to minimise its adverse impact on the environment and thus on the emission of greenhouse gases which in turn contribute to climate change. On the other hand, it is recognised that changes to the world's climate will have a direct impact on many tourism destinations which could have far-reaching implications, not just for the tourism industry, but for other economic sectors. The tourism industry needs to be made aware of these consequences and set in train planning processes which will enable it to adapt and adjust its activities accordingly.”

The impacts of climate change on tourism

Already seen in Kenya as a result of drought conditions: emergency encroachment of cattle herds into protected areas, increased levels of poaching for food in marginal lands, and deaths of wildlife unable to cope with extreme conditions. Although drought used to be a natural or cyclical phenomenon, climate change has seen, amongst others, increased incidences of drought over the last ten years, a gradual rise in sea levels and extreme weather events at coastlines. Planning has never been a particular strength in Kenya, yet advance planning that seeks to take into account, adapt and mitigate against increasing incidences of severe drought in wildlife areas or erosion and weird weather patterns at the coast will ultimately protect billions of dollars worth of our tourism assets. And even if we can’t see it now, the insurance industry already does: insurance products and prices in the most vulnerable states in the USA correlate neatly with graphs showing temperature rise as a result of global warming. Over there, the insurance industry has for some years been building climate change impacts into increased premiums, and complex forecasting models have been developed by the industry to try and hedge against “climate risk”.

Tourism as a contributor to climate change

Growth is good and Kenya aspires to a million tourists a year. The potential benefits to the economy are immense. But whilst tourism is at the frontlines of feeling the impacts of climate change, it also contributes to its causes. To receive a million visitors a year means a million flight journeys have been taken. Although air travel only contributes to a relatively small percentage of global emissions currently, it is the fastest growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. The impacts of air travel are more pronounced because at cruise levels, emissions are made directly into the upper stratosphere. Whether we like it or not, it is likely that in as a direct response to this there will in the future be increased levels of direct and indirect taxes and levys in the air transport sector – in fact carbon offsets are already a form of voluntary tax. In the media we have seen that there are trends by the European consumer to avoid horticultural produce that has been flown in and has associated high levels of carbon dioxide emissions. Will this extend to the consumer of long-haul tourism? What position should the Kenyan tourism industry take on this issue?

Air travel and other forms of transportation are by far the most significant contribution by tourism to climate change. However it is also important to note that tourists exert a high per capita consumption of water, energy and other scarce local resources, which exert considerable stress upon the local environment. These stresses, in addition to increasing the carbon footprint of a tourism operation, may well exacerbate the adverse effects that climate change is already having on local ecology: consider the situation of starving cattle, destroyed livelihoods, dying wildlife and yet the continued extraction of water for supply to a lodge swimming pool - all located in the same ecosystem. As the WTO states, “in all such incidences, the destination's sustainability remains a prime concern.”

Resource and energy efficiency, including the use of renewable energies in hotels and resorts, are response mechanisms that need to be encouraged. Ecotourism Kenya’s Ecorating Scheme is an important voluntary response to supporting sustainable operations by the tourism industry but the challenge is to achieve wider uptake by the industry. Growth is good, but sustainable growth is survival.

Anjali Saini is a founder member of Ecotourism Kenya and continues to be a voluntary environmental adviser to the society. She works as an environmental consultant specialising in environmental management, energy efficiency and sustainable tourism.