How International Tourism Has Contributed to Climate Change - Literature review Example

RESEARCH ESSAY By Name Course Instructor Institution City/State Date How International Tourism Has Contributed to Climate Change Introduction International Tourism according to Becken (2007, p.352) is the act of travelling from one nation to another for leisure or commercial reasons. Importantly, international tourism is a fundamental activity to the visited countries as it offers economic, educational, cultural, as well as social benefits. In the 21st century, international tourism has risen in nearly all countries globally (Valls & Sardá, 2009, p.41). On the other hand, environmental change is defined by Chenoweth (2009, p.276) as a disturbance or change of the environment brought about by natural ecological processes or human influences. Basically, the key tourism drivers are individual disposable earnings as well as strong economic state of affairs, but tourism is becoming more influenced by a host of worldwide incidents like natural disasters, terrorism, political unrest, health-based concerns, and heightened competition from novel and up-and-coming destinations, in addition to changing demographics (Amelung & Moreno, 2012, p.85). Notably, the tourism industry must have the ability to change in haste to both economic as well as natural shocks. Whereas external threats could not have prevented travelling, Rijal (2013, p.61) posits that consumers cannot change to an economic slowdown by just looking for optional destinations. A continuous drop in disposable income or in optional expenditure would ultimately lead to reduced global travel. In this regard, the essay seeks to explain how international tourism has contributed to climate change and the impact of climate change on international tourism in the coming ten years. Discussion Essentially, the tourism industry is a key contributor to international fiscal development, particularly in developing regions as well as economies where tourism usually signifies the key source of national revenue. Still, tourism is evidently and strongly reliant on and vulnerable to climatic conditions. Hamilton et al. (2007, p.163) argue that that even though small increases in temperature could at first benefit the financial system, but if left uncurbed, this might lead to a 20 percent decline in per capita expenditure by 2070. The connection between international tourism and climate change involves multifaceted connections and may be explained as a two-way relationship. International tourism activities, on the one hand, leads to climate change; for instance, in 2005, CO2 emissions sourcing from transport accounted for over 70 percent of tourism-related emissions, with nearly all of this characterized to air transport. According to Chenoweth (2009, p.277), this indicates that air transport is accountable for almost 3 percent of the total anthropogenic emissions leading to environmental change. Climate change, on the other hand, considerably influences international tourism, above all owing to its impact on the pleasant appearance of tourism destinations as well as flow of tourists. Undoubtedly, tourism relies heavily on natural resources, like biodiversity, landscapes, coastlines, water, and so on. Such have an effect on the possible attraction of destinations, but climate change endangers a number of these pertinent natural resources. In the modern world, never before in the past, have a greater part of the present population been so well heeled, and being a new phenomenon, Valls and Sardá (2009, p.44) claim that the earth as well as its scores of occupants are in the process of becoming accustomed to it. Presently, humans can travel from country to another country with no difficulty, and this has occurred not just because of the augmented success of most of its race, but as well due to invention rate that has ripped through the globe. As projected, this has created a new wave of environment setbacks. In this regard, the aviation industry is one of the main causes of environment change and is as well one of the biggest contributors to the GHG (green house gas) emissions. Chenoweth (2009, p.279) posit that airplanes, used mainly by tourists to move from one continent to another, contributes a surprising 55 to 75 percent. Yearly the world witnesses to the launching of more and more small time aircraft companies, and this according to Becken (2007, p.356) this is simply straining the planet that is almost strained to the maximum. Given that a lot of people can travel on a regular basis, the planet is enduring a challenge of humongous proportions. Besides that, the natural resources essential to ease this change are alarmingly fading, and Natural oil wells, volcanoes, as well as geysers have not been spared either. An additional facet of how tourism leads to the climate change is an oft ignored sector, whereby the people who travel carry their dietary customs as well as favourites to the countries they are touring. The tremendous increase of international tourists, particularly in developing economies, will undoubtedly boost their earnings, but Rijal (2013, p.62) claims that it has a lethal and silent consequence: This being the compelling demands to the country’s already insufficient natural resources such as minerals., water, and food. International tourists to every corner of the world contribute considerably in the country’s garbage, and the majority of this garbage is electronic and plastic items, while others are non-recyclable; bearing in mind that just a small percentage of countries have enacted policies that oversee garbage disposal. This according to Chenoweth (2009, p.281) results in the dumping of hazardous substances in the oceans and seas or outsourcing garbage to developing countries for the reason that they desperately need dollars. Climate change on the other hand has tremendously influenced international tourism; for instance, the Maldives, which is an archipelago more than1000 coral atolls, and which themselves consist of several small islands, has been impacted greatly by climate change. Amelung and Moreno (2012, p.92) posit that during the 80s, tourism in the Maldives turned out to be one of the vital as well as uppermost economic development sectors, but the Maldives low elevation makes the archipelago exceedingly susceptible to the recent rise in sea level. Scores of Maldives islands are below one metre above sea-level, and as the oceans of the world continue to heat up, they enlarge and this leads to the rise of sea levels between 0.04 and 0.1 metre after every one decade. Arguably, a rise in sea level would result in Maldives’ coastal erosion, and to make the matter worse a large percentage of the landmass might end up being submerged by 2040 (Valls & Sardá, 2009, p.47). Besides that, coral reefs, which are arguably the key tourist attraction, could be wiped out. Another notable effect of environment change to the international tourism can be seen in the Alps, which is not just the key destinations for European skiers during winter holiday, but are as well a well-liked place for summer walking holidays. Evidently, the mountains reveal a wider scope of climatic conditions, with almost all Alpine valleys possessing a distinctive local climate. Therefore, tourism is essential to the scores of Alpine countries’ economy, but in a number of places the industry has been declining in the past four years. As per Hall et al. (2013, p.116), it is projected that as temperatures go up, the season of snow will reduce as well as snowfall will decline. In some areas this decline could be as much as 30% by 2020 and above 50% by the 2050. For this reason, the Bavaria’s best-acknowledged ski resort, Garmisch-Partenkirchen as well as Austria’s Kitzb.hel, will both suffer the consequence of climate change. Cashman et al. (2012, p.24) posit that by 2050 Kitzb.hel’s snow cover will fall from 10 weeks to 7.5 weeks during the winter season. Turkey and Greece, which are world’s major tourist destination, enjoy long hot summers as well as mild winters, with highest temperatures repeatedly beyond 400C. Rijal (2013, p.62) predict that the mean summer temperature will increase by over 40C by 2050, and scientifically a rise in summer temperature to higher than 400C will decrease personal comfort and might result in more related mortality as well as heat stress. Whilst beach resorts could still be tolerable, Athens will turn out to be definitely uncomfortable. In the coming decade, climate change is as well projected to heighten the risk of ill health in some parts of the world and this could result in a tourism decline. Besides that, more recurrent periods of intense heat will lead to uneasiness in a number of resorts in eastern Mediterranean, where the number of days higher than 400C is projected to heighten. Furthermore, a cloud cover decline in Australia will enhance exposure to the dangerous rays of the sun and malaria is expected to resurface in Spain (Rijal, 2013, p.64). Also projected is the decline of winter tourism, as the European skiing destinations such as Alps will have shorter skiing seasons as well as less snowfall. Such effects will be particularly manifest in lower-lying ski resorts like Austria’s Kitzb.hel, as well as in locations where business ventures are by now insignificant, like the Scottish Highlands. Conclusion In conclusion, it has been argued that international tourism is the biggest and most hastily developing industry globally, but scores of the most well-liked tourist destinations rely much on the natural environment for their attraction. For instance, alpine ski resorts, wildlife safaris, tropical rainforests, and coastal resorts all depend heavily on a mixture of safe conditions, good weather as well as natural beauty to attract tourists. It has been observed that international tourism is not only a possible victim of climate change, rather it as well leads to the causes of climate change. References Amelung, B. & Moreno, A., 2012. Costing the impact of climate change on tourism in Europe: results of the PESETA project. Climatic Change, vol. 112, no. 1, pp.83-100. Becken, S., 2007. Tourists' Perception of International Air Travel's Impact on the Global Climate and Potential Climate Change Policies. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, vol. 15, no. 4, pp.351-68. Cashman, A., Cumberbatch, J. & Moore, W., 2012. The effects of climate change on tourism in small states: evidence from the Barbados case. Tourism Review of AIEST - International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism, vol. 67, no. 3, pp.17-29. Chenoweth, J., 2009. Is tourism with a low impact on climate possible? Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, vol. 1, no. 3, pp.274-87. Hall, C.M., Scott, D. & Gossling, S., 2013. The Primacy of Climate Change for Sustainable International Tourism. Sustainable Development, vol. 21, no. 2, pp.112-21. Hamilton, J.M., Tol, R.S. & J., 2007. The impact of climate change on tourism in Germany, the UK and Ireland: a simulation study. Regional Environmental Change, vol. 7, no. 3, pp.161-72. Rijal, S.P., 2013. The Impact of Climate Change on the Tourism-Based Local Economy of Nepal. IUP Journal of International Relations, vol. 7, no. 4, pp.59-67. Valls, J.-F. & Sardá, R., 2009. Tourism expert perceptions for evaluating climate change impacts on the Euro-Mediterranean tourism industry. Tourism Review of AIEST - International Association of Scientific Experts in Tourism, vol. 64, no. 2, pp.41-51. Read More