Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
2002). Air travel is a principal causal factor (Peeters et al, 2006), contributing
40 per cent of tourism CO
2
emissions (UNWTO, 2007) in 2005, despite
accounting for just 17 per cent of tourist trips worldwide (Bows et al, 2009b).
On the other hand, coach and rail travel, while accounting for 34 per cent of
all tourism trips, contribute only 13 per cent of CO
2
emissions (UNWTO,
2007). Within the EU, the impact of tourist air travel is even higher.
Aviation
While air travel is the prime transport mode for just 20 per cent of trips, it
accounts for 55 per cent of passenger km and 50 per cent of EU tourism CO
2
emissions (Bows et al, 2009b). Peeters concludes that 'air transport accounts
for a rather small share of tourism trips, while causing the majority of GHG
emissions' (2007, p15). Given that mitigation efforts should focus on areas
with greatest impact, the UNWTO (2007) suggests that the focus should there-
fore be on a minority of tourism trips. The figures indicate this should be
aviation-based tourism. There are some other concerns. While other industry
sectors are working on reducing GHG impacts, emissions from the tourism
sector are projected to grow.
It is also worth recognizing that whilst the current tourism contribution
to emissions seems small, it is estimated that only 2 to 3 per cent of the world's
population take international flights (Gössling, Ceron, Dubois and Hall, 2009;
Simpson et al, 2008). Similarly, Brand and Boardman (2008), in a study of
personal travel in the UK, found that air travel accounts for 70.2 per cent of
GHG emissions from personal travel; the top 10 per cent of emitters are
responsible for 43 per cent of GHG emissions. Adams (1997) used the term
'hypermobility' to describe the growing and almost obsessive demand for
travel for all purposes. Gössling, Ceron, Dubois and Hall (2009, p132)
describe it as the 'vast growth in temporary mobility by a relatively small
number of individuals'. Their study at Gothenburg airport in Sweden
provides evidence of some highly mobile people, taking over 50 return flights
per year, with 3.8 per cent of hypermobiles accounting for 27 per cent of
all trips.
Peeters (2007) also points out that the current growth in aviation will lead
to the airline industry being responsible for a much greater share of emissions
in the future, as other industry sectors continue to cut emissions. Current
European targets are for an 80 per cent reduction in CO
2
emissions by 2050,
yet aviation alone could account for the total emissions envisaged in this tar-
get (Bows et al, 2009b). On a global level, growth in demand for international
travel from India and China will also exacerbate the problem. Given the sig-
nificant role of transport in tourism GHG emissions, and its importance for
slow travel, it is the focus of further analysis here.
Taken as a whole, the transport sector accounts for around 13 per cent of
GHG emissions (Gössling and Upham, 2009), with the largest share attributed
to road transport (Chapman, 2007). Thus, it is argued in some quarters that
transport for tourism is responsible for a relatively small share of emissions,
with the whole aviation industry contributing 2 per cent of global CO
2
emis-
sions (IATA, 2008b) and in total 3.5 per cent of the anthropogenic greenhouse
