Tourism, Climate Change and Development - Tourism and Development: Concepts and Issues - page 354

The above figures highlight that there may be a general trade-off between
tourism's development benefits in the less developed countries and its con-
tribution to climate change. Moreover, it provides a significant challenge to
debates over climate justice and responsibility for emissions and how this is
assessed. In countries such as Aruba and Barbados, per capita emissions
already exceed worldwide average per capita emission levels, and these coun-
tries may have to reduce emissions in line with the principle of Common but
Differentiated Responsibilities. Depending on how aircraft and cruise emis-
sions are counted (at source, at destination, or a split between the two), the
emissions of developing countries that rely on tourism may change signifi-
cantly. If, as Paavola and Adger (2006) argue, the key social justice dilemmas
of adaptation include responsibility for climate change impacts, the level and
burden sharing of adaptation assistance to vulnerable countries, distribution
of assistance between recipient countries and adaptation measures, and par-
ticipation in adaptation planning and decision-making, the emissions contri-
bution of international tourism may present developing countries with
significant policy dilemmas that are generally ignored by institutions such
as the UNWTO.
It seems clear that the current development of tourism in most countries
is following pro-growth paradigms, where annual growth in arrival numbers
is considered an indicator of success and considered a proxy for wealth trans-
fer to poor local populations (Gössling et al. , 2013). Nevertheless, such strate-
gies may need to be reconsidered. Increasing energy prices over the longer-term,
security concerns and growing environmental awareness among travellers
make it meaningful to develop tourism systems with a strong focus on lower
energy use and emission avoidance. However, one of the greatest challenges
faced in assessing the role of tourism as a development mechanism is that the
pursuit of tourism as a means of economic development is not integrated with
assessments of the implications of climate change for development. Reducing
losses to weather-related disasters, meeting the MDGs and wider human
development objectives and implementing a successful response to climate
change are aims that can only be accomplished if they are undertaken in an
integrated manner. As Schipper and Pelling (2006) note, currently, policy
responses to address each of these independently may be redundant or, at
worst, even conflicting, with different policy areas arguably conceiving of
development in different ways, and economic concerns often not being ade-
quately integrated with environmental and social ones (Ayers & Huq, 2009;
Cannon & Müller-Mahn, 2010; Willis, 2011). For example, in the case of tour-
ism, assessment of the economic benefits of international tourism for develop-
ing countries typically fails to account for the longer-term contribution of the
emissions of tourism to climate change that will, in turn, affect destinations.
The philosophy often appears to be 'Travel Now, Pay Later'.
The relationship between sustainable development and vulnerability -
the propensity or predisposition to be adversely affected (IPCC, 2012)