Tourism and the Environment
Many of us go on holiday vacations without realizing the negative and positive impacts tourism has on the environment. The Coronavirus has had a significant effect on the tourism industry and thus also on natural environments that are normally affected by tourism operations. According to the UN’s World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), the international travel collapse in 2020 resulted in a loss of USD 1.3 trillion in revenues. According to one recent estimate, the tourism industry is responsible for 10% of global GDP. Changes caused by the pandemic provide an opportunity to look at recent research with the intention of minimizing tourism’s negative environmental impacts and maximizing its positives ones.
How Tourism Harms the Environment
Tourism contributes to climate change in several ways including transportation (such as air and road travel) as well as the consumption of products and services at the tourist site (such as food).
According to a 2018 journal article published in Nature Climate Change tourism accounts for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. The study breaks down tourism-related emissions and finds that almost half of these emissions come from transportation such as air and road travel.
According to the authors “Our analysis is comprehensive and, hence, takes into account all the upstream supply chains to quantify the impacts of tourist spending on food, clothing, transport and hospitality.”
Water consumption as a result of tourist activities is significant. Tourism is in some cases a major user of fresh water in places where water is scarce. This can hurt local communities. According to one estimate, the amount of water servicing 100 guests in a luxury hotel for just 55 days would support 100 families in poor countries for three years.
Tourism makes use of water for different reasons. An article posted on the Global Water Forum (an online resource presenting evidence-based articles concerning freshwater governance) written by sustainable tourism expert Dr. Stefan Gössling of Linnaeus University, Sweden breaks down water consumption into the different tourism water use categories (with estimates of use for each category): accommodations (eg. kitchens, laundry, toilets, showers, swimming pools), activities (eg. golf, diving, saunas, or spas), food (eg. high protein foods which have greater water footprint), fuel use (eg. for airplanes and vehicle transportation which requires lots of water to produce) and infrastructure (eg. for the construction of buildings). Adding up the different amounts of water lead to an estimate of 2000 – 7500 litres of water per tourist per day. For comparison purposes, Statistics Canada reported that Canadians in 2013 used an average of 466 litres of drinking water per person per day.
Tourism affects biodiversity (which consists of genes, species, and ecosystems) through habitat change, overexploitation, pollution, invasive alien species, and climate change. A research article from 2016 entitled “Tourism and Biodiversity Loss: Implications for Business Sustainability” studied the impact of tourism on biodiversity loss using data from 141 countries. According to the authors, the results show that tourism has a detrimental impact on biodiversity on all four threatened species groupings considered – plants, mammals, birds, and fishes. The results showed that “a 10 per cent increase in the numbers of international tourist arrivals will lead to an increase in biodiversity loss between 2–4 per cent.”
How Tourism Helps the Environment
But there is good news too. According to António Guterres – the current UN Secretary-General – “Tourism can be a force for good in our world, playing a part in protecting our planet and its biodiversity, and celebrating what makes us human: from discovering new places and cultures to connecting with new people and experiences.”
Tourism can positively affect biodiversity by educating tourists on the importance of preserving nature for the needs of both humanity and for its intrinsic value. The tourist industry in many cases relies on natural settings to attract visitors in the first place so it is in the interest of the industry to preserve, protect and even expand on these natural settings.
According to the World Travel & Tourism Council the travel and tourism industry provides 330 million jobs worldwide. These jobs provide income to local communities and governments which in turn help to preserve biodiversity and fund energy and water efficiency at tourist sites.
According to the UNWTO, the tourism industry has implemented or recognized environmentally friendly policies. This includes funding conservation projects, minimizing the use of toxic chemicals, purchasing environment-friendly foods and supplies, and ensuring no invasive alien species are introduced.
Covid-19 and Tourism
The pandemic has already had or is expected to have an impact on tourism aside from the loss of revenue. Some nature tourist sites – after looking at how nature regenerates with no visitors – have decided to close for a certain portion of the year to reduce pressure on the local environment. In addition, the UN has said that the tourism sector’s new focus on health and hygiene (as a result of the pandemic) if not managed properly can result in “additional waste generation, water consumption and pollution from chemicals usage.” Also is a recognition that, due to the loss of tourism revenue, some “communities may turn to the over-exploitation of natural resources, either for their own consumption or to generate income”. This will result in additional pressures on nature tourist sites around the world.
What You Can Do
There are several tactics you can take to reduce the environmental footprint of your tourist activities. To reduce climate emissions remember that you can purchase flight offset credits which is money that can be used to nullify some of the emissions of the flight. It is also important that you minimize pollution and waste as well as water use while on your trip.
The best thing to do before going on a vacation is to study if your tourism options have been certified as being environment friendly. The certification criteria will typically include different environmental footprint measures such energy and water use, climate emissions, waste and pollution, and sustainable purchasing. Different certification organizations exist such as Green Globe and EarthCheck. Make sure to review certification details before booking. While planning your next vacation after the pandemic try to plan for fun but also be cognizant of the environmental footprint of your plans. This way you can help local communities and the natural environment thrive for the future.
