Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
recognized that transport is a major problem that undermines claims to
sustainable tourism (Roberts and Hall, 2001). Where air travel was once
almost completely overlooked, recent studies have brought it centre stage and
have questioned sustainable tourism set in a global impact context (Becken,
2002; Gössling, Hall and Lane, 2008). This is especially so in discussions of
eco-tourism, which may be no more sustainable than mass tourism, particu-
larly given many are car- and air-travel dependent (Wheeller, 1993).
It is imperative to integrate a climate change perspective into the debate,
particularly where poverty alleviation is concerned. Given that a redistribution
of wealth through tourism requires long-haul transport of western visitors to
developing countries, this comes with a significant carbon burden. Nawijn et
al (2008) argue that for tourism to raise the income of the poorest 2.7 billion
in the world, who live on less than $730 per annum (based on 2002 figures),
it would triple the total human contribution to GHG emissions. They there-
fore caution the promotion of tourism as a poverty alleviation measure if this
is at the expense of climate change. They also point out that tourist numbers
are likely to decrease to many of the LDCs should temperatures become con-
sistently higher (e.g. in Africa, as temperatures will not be ideal for tourists)
and therefore tourism provides a poor development choice in these contexts.
According to Nawijn et al (2008) and Bigano et al (2006), a better tourism
strategy for many developing countries would be to target local markets of
either domestic or existing customers from adjacent countries. In this context
slow travel provides a viable alternative for many LDCs, and removes the
dependence on international air travel.
Given that climate change will affect developing countries, on the whole,
more than developed countries (IPCC, 2007), this further conflicts with the
tourism as development strategy that relies on long-haul travel from developed
to developing countries. The carbon burden of air travel drives climate change;
this in turn will increasingly put more people into poverty. While good qual-
ity pro-poor tourism, based on sound principles of sustainable development
rather than sustaining tourism, might bring some out of poverty, further
research is needed to analyse whether such a positive outcome is negated by
the climate change impacts of travel.
Summary
Until relatively recently, tourism impact analysis concentrated on destination-
based concerns and generally overlooked the travel to and from the
destination area. This has focused on local impacts at the expense of wider
global impacts such as climate change. However, climate change is already
having a significant impact on many destinations and will have a greater
impact in future years. It is therefore essential that a more holistic analysis of
tourism impacts is undertaken with a focus on travel.
Travel has undoubtedly changed the way we view the world and has
enriched many lives. Yet, on a global scale, international travel is the preserve
of the few, and international air travel is enjoyed by only a small fraction (2-3
per cent) of the world's population each year (Gössling, Ceron, Dubois and
