Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
public measure of worth and status? Maybe. Yet possible
future(s) are just that: they are possible.
Such stark deterministic predictions are made in the light of the potential con-
sequences of not responding to resource depletion, ecological damage and
climatic change. Scientific opinion, based on a recent agglomeration of evi-
dence, has now hardened; atmospheric concentration of CO
2
should be limited
to the lower end of the range 450-550 parts per million by volume if the world
is to avoid the avoidable. The problem has been diagnosed, solutions are less
clear. A good starting point, in building a slow travel scenario, is perhaps to
review the present.
The current tourism scenario
It is often said that tourism is remarkably robust. It has, after all, recovered
speedily from regional and global crises in the past three decades. In the face
of one of the worst recessions since the 1930s, coupled with the greatest envi-
ronmental challenge ahead, the initial response from the UNWTO on the
matter was to set out a
Roadmap to Recovery
(UNWTO, 2009a, p2), which
highlighted seven points:
•
Organizations need to realize that the crisis is significant and transform-
ing.
•
Markets will change and 'future operating patterns for global economies
will be vastly different from the past'.
•
There is a need to harness technology to become more efficient and reduce
costs.
•
Engagement in public/private partnerships should be encouraged.
•
Advocate to governments that tourism is important.
•
Help the poorest countries to grow tourism and to fight climatic change,
especially in Africa. They should do this by 'growing their flights, rev-
enues, technology, skills and financing in an increasingly climate neutral
world'.
•
Advocate that tourism and travel packages are at the core of stimulus
packages and the new green deal.
The language of the document implies that the apparent contradictions have
not as yet been reconciled. This is typified by the call to grow aviation in a
carbon-neutral world. As Butler (2008, p350) notes:
… sustainable tourism has often been tied to a worthy but some-
what impractical social and economic goals such as poverty
alleviation, often running counter to environmental aspects of
sustainability.
The UNWTO (2009a, p1) has also made several calls for more governmental
support for tourism, which, at the same time, is described as being a sector
