International Tourism and Environmental Change - Essay Example

International Tourism and Environmental Change Introduction Tourism is described as “the activities of persons travelling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited” (World Tourism Organization (2002), cited in Peters, Egmond & Visser 2004, p. 5). International tourism occurs when people travel outside their home countries for tourist activities. More and more people continue to embrace travelling to foreign countries or pleasure. International tourism has grown to become one of the largest contributor to local and national economies. It is estimated that international arrivals went up by round 6.5 percent from 1950 to 2005 (World Tourism Organization (WTO), 2002). Hsieh and Kung (2013) say that this number has gone up from 675-940 million between 2000 and 2010. There is an interdependent relationship between tourism and the environment. Environmental change issues like pollution, natural resources depletion, destruction of biodiversity, global warming and waste increase among other affect tourism (Stefanica & Butmaru 2015). Most of the tourist attractions are entirely dependent on the environment and environmental changes mean a change in tourist patterns. Most of tourist destinations are determined by the environment; weather of the destination, the tourist attraction, accommodation, modes of travel and most importantly the type of tourism among others. Therefore, changes in the environment affect international tourism in all these areas. Environmental change result from disturbances in the environment caused by ecological processes as well as human activities. Gossling and Hall (2006) talk of the global environmental change and key tourism environments. Different types of tourism depend on various kinds of environments for instance water tourism, wild life, mountains and antarctic tourism among others. In a survey conducted in Tanzania and Zanzibar, Gossling (2002) established that tourism is changing the relationship people have with nature and the society in ways that are detrimental to sustainable development. This paper discusses ways in which international tourism contribute to environmental change, especially climate change. Impact of Tourism to Climate Change Climate change is one of the most important environmental change issues in regards to international tourism. Climate change refers to “any change in climate over time, whether due to natural variability or as a result of human activity” (WTO 2007, p.124). Climate change means major changes in rainfall patterns, wind, snow or temperature patterns that have lasted for decades. Climate change can occur due to natural causes like the intensity of the sun, ocean circulating, the earth’s orbit, volcanic activity as well as atmospheric activity. In addition, climate change can result from human cause for instance rom activities such as urbanization, agriculture, deforestation and burning of fossil fuels among others. There is an unending connection between climate change and tourism. According to Gossling and Hull (2006), is dependent on a large part on climatic and natural resources. According to Scott, Gossling and Hall (2002), “there is a growing concern about the contribution of international tourism to environmental change, especially climate change”. Globally, the impact of tourism on climate change is averagely between 4% and 10% (Peeters 2007a). However, this can increase to up to 20% for most of the developed countries. The most notable ways in which international tourism impact on climate change is through the emission of GHG carbon dioxide which is causes radiative forcing (RF) which is caused by human beings and it results in increase in average temperature (Peeters 2007a). The emission of carbon dioxide comes in the form of activities involved in accommodation operations – coking, washing, heating and cooling. It also comes on a large part through transportation (air, road and water modes of transportation). Air transportation emits both carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute directly and indirectly to global warming. According to Peeters (2007a), the indirect impact caused by gases emitted through air transport is formation of condensation strips at cruising altitude. Non-aviation cause a radiative forcing of about 17% (COM 2007). Green House Gas (GHG) emissions from transport, activities and accommodation is one way in which tourism contributes to climate change. According to the World Tourism Organization (2007), tourism contributed to 4%-6% of all global emissions in 2005. Transportation contribute to most of the problems associated to climate change. SIMPSONS ET AL. (2008) estimates it to be between 5 and 14 percent. Transportation takes 75 percent of all carbon dioxide emissions as a result of tourism with air transportation accounting for most of it (UNWTO-UNEP-WTO 2008). Peters, Egmond and Visser (2004) found out that air transport dominate in terms of climate change since it accounts for 72% of carbon dioxide emissions. According to Simpsons et al. (2008), anthropogenic climate change is caused by emission of Green House Gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is considered the most significant of the Green House Gases emissions; it is responsible for around 60 percent of warming caused by GHG emissions. According to a report published by United Nations World Tourism Organization, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO), GHG emissions from tourism are categorised into three; transportation, accommodation and activities (UNWTO-UNEP-WTO 2008). Peeters (2007a) notes that the effects that tourism activities cause to climate change are not uniformly represented across the different types of tourism. Some factors contribute to how much tourism activities will impact on climate change. They include; the mode of transport, the length of stay and the distance of tourist home and tourist destination. Tourists whose destinations are longer distances from home and who are taking shorter stays generally prefer air transport. This mode of transportation account for 70% -80% of tourism GHG emissions (Peeters 2007a). Table 1: Distribution of emission from tourism by sub-sector Sub-sectors CO2 (Mt) % Air Transport 515 40% Car Transport 420 32% Other Transport 45 3% Accommodation 275 21% Activities 48 4% Total 1304 100% Total World 26400 Tourist Contribution 5% Adapted from UNWTO-UNEP-WMO (2008) One of the themes dominating literature in the area of impact of tourism contribution on climate change is how this phenomenon can be mitigated. Mitigation practices will rely on air travel efficiency, reduction in transport volumes, carbon off-setting and improved energy efficiency (especially in non-transport sector. Water Pollution Water pollution is another issue affecting international tourism. The tourism industry relies on water for uses such as in accommodation in hotels, personal use, swimming, scuba diving, water sports and shoreline activities among other uses. In addition, water tourism is a major sector in the tourism industry. According to Davies and Kung (2000) the quality of water is affected by tourism related activities like recreation boating. They also point out that tourist infrastructure add pressure to sewage plant treatments especially in peak tourists seasons causing overflows. In recreational boating, sewage is discharged into water bodies especially near water bodies which pose a major pollution issue. In addition, there is discharge of oils and toxic chemicals from recreational boats as well as from the cruise industry. Stefanica and Butnaru (2015) says that water pollution affects coral reefs since waste encourage the growth of algae leading to a decrease in oxygen concentration. A decrease in oxygen in the water leads to death of fish which causes ecosystem degradation. Water pollution have negative impacts on residents since in most algae invested waters activities like swimming are restricted. These kinds of water pollution damage the water ecosystems impacting on the water quality and destroying wildlife and aquatic vegetation. Future Trends In 10 years’ time, the impact of international tourism on climate change may increase causing further climate change. This is especially if the mitigation strategies are not streamlined in a way that the effects of international tourism are reduced as compared to its economic contribution. UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) estimates that international tourism may surpass 1.8 billion arrivals by the year 2030 as well as four times tourists will be travelling domestically (Scott, Gossling & Hull 2012). A report by Simpsons et al. (2008) predict that by 2035, the contribution of international tourism to climate change will have grown considerably. These predictions show that global tourism is estimated to increase by 179 percent and guests’ accomodation will increase by about 156 percent. However, compared these growth, the report estimates a lower level of increase in carbon dioxide emission due to transport efficiency improvements where emissions will be reduced. Nevertheless, the impact of tourism to global warming which includes GHG emissions will increase and the radiative forcing is expected to increase up to 188% (Simpsons et al. 2008). With movements like eco-tourism and all the mitigation efforts being adopted globally, international tourism can be made sustainable. Over the next 10 years, the efforts should be on sustainable international tourism which ensures that international tourism continues to output its economic benefits to destination countries while taking care of the environment. Negative impacts of tourism on the environment will continue to be experienced unless the level of visitors’ use is proportional to the ability of the environment to cope with the uses. References Davies, T & Cahill, S 2000, ‘Environmental implications of the tourism industry’, Discussion paper 00-14, Retrieved May 7, 2015. http://www.rff.org/Documents/RFF-DP-00-14.pdf Hsieh, HJ & Kung SF 2013, ‘The linkage of environmental impact on tourism industry’, 3rd International Conference on Sustainable Future for Human Security Sustain 2012, Procedia Environmental Sciences, vol. 17, pp. 658-665. Gossling, S 2002, ‘Human-environmental relations with tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 539-556. Gossling, S & Hall, MC 2006, ‘Uncertainties in predicting tourist flows under scenarios of climate change’, Climatic Change, vol. 79, no. 3-4, pp. 163-173. Gossling, S & Hall, CM 2006, ‘Tourism and Global Environmental Change, Routledge, London. Peeters, P 2007a, ‘The Impact of tourism on climate change’, Policy dialogue on tourism, transport and climate change: Stakeholders meet researchers, 15-04-2007, parls: eCLAT Peeters, P, Egmond, T & Visser, N 2004, ‘European tourism, transport and environment, NHTV Centre for Sustainable Tourism and Transport, Accessed May 7, 2015. http://www.cstt.nl/userdata/documents/appendix_deliverable_1_subject_matter_review_30082004.pdf Simpson, MC, Gössling, S, Scott, D, Hall, CM, & Gladin, E 2008, ‘Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in the Tourism Sector: Frameworks, Tools and Practices’ UNEP, University of Oxford, UNWTO, WMO: Paris, France. Stefanica, M, Butmaru, GI 2015, ‘Research on tourists perception on the relationship between tourism and environment’, 7th International Conference on Globalization and Higher Education in Economics and Business Administration, Procedia Economics and Finance, vol. 20, pp. 595-600. 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