Introduction
Carbon Neutral Tourism is a term that has first been introduced in the context of climate change. Carbon neutral tourism implies the offsetting of a destination’s carbon footprint by means of processes balancing carbon emissions, such as planting trees or investing in new energy sources. This article deals with the attitude of tourism stakeholders at various destinations in the Asia-pacific towards this new form of tourism and its implications for tourism destination development.
Original article: “Asia Pacific slowly wakes up to carbon-neutral tourism” found at PATA (http://www.travelindustrywire.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=HNR&file=detail&sid=32411)
Essay by Sabrina Kaman
Master in Tourism Destination Management student 2008/2009
Carbon neutral tourism has first been introduced when the first discussions of climate change aroused and were related to the tourism industry. There are many different ways one can go about offsetting a carbon footprint, the most popular options being investments in forestry or renewable energy sources. Hence, carbon neutral tourism can be achieved, when a destination/company/tourist neutralizes its carbon emissions caused by travel or the use of facilities with high-carbon production.
The tourism industry inevitably contributes its share to climate change: 5.3% of global CO2 emissions are generated by the tourism industry, of which 94% of all tourism-related emissions are caused by air transportation (Viner & Nicholls, 2006)
As referred to in the article, tourism stakeholders in Northern America and Europe are already engaged in ‘green benchmarking’ and represent a role model for the private sector in the Asia-Pacific, whose tourism stakeholders hope for a greater credibility in those respective long-haul markets. Despite the fact, that there are no public sector incentives offered for tourism businesses in the Asia-Pacific, hotel and resort owners, as well as entire destinations now aim at neutralizing their operations in order to become carbon neutral: Several hotel and resort groups invest in alternative energies, such as wind energy, environmental programs or start recycling. Moreover, the article states that some stakeholders have set high goals when it comes to more environmentally friendly operations; they aim at becoming 100% carbon neutral and want to attain this objective by integrating those goals into their budgets.
Notwithstanding the good intentions of those engaging in adaptation or mitigation to climate changes, there are opponent voices, doubting the effect of initiatives, such as offset programs: The Total Environment Centre in Australia points out that ‘trees should be the last resort in carbon offset projects because they are prone to fire, disease and drought’ (ABC News Online, 2008).
Paul Peeters pointed out in his guest lecture on ‘Tourism and global environmental change’, that in order to tackle the challenge of making tourism related transport more sustainable, one should work on the operational, technological and growth aspect of tourism and transportation, rather than simply neutralizing carbon emissions. In his opinion, investment in tree plantations would even worsen the problem of climate change: He expressed his disbelief in such actions by stating that there is a lack of space for the amount of trees that need to be planet in order to counterbalance carbon emissions.
Moreover, one could argue that offset programs are just a mean for people or businesses to salve their conscience and continue on doing what they are doing, without looking into the effectiveness of the programs they invest in. An important aspect to be considered in this context is ‘greenwashing’: Due to the general trend of ‘going green,’ many companies see high potential in selling their products as green and environmentally friendly, creating a marketing ploy that actually does not make a difference.
Undeniably contributing to climate change, the tourism industry should engage in efforts to limit its impacts: In line with tourism development, stakeholders at a destination should consider the viability and plausibility of carbon neutral tourism from a very realistic perspective. However, the following question should be posed: Is carbon neutral tourism a realizable concept or just an attempt to make the unavoidable more bearable?
Sources:
ABC News Online. (24. May 2008). Carbon offeset opponents ‘can’t see forests from the trees’ . Abgerufen am 5. October 2008 von http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200705/s1932646.htm
Viner, D., & Nicholls, S. (2006). Climate change and its implications for international tourism. In D. Buhalis, & C. Costa, Tourism Management Dynamics. Elsevier Butterworth-Heinemann.
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