Tourism's Environmental Impacts Part II: An Update

Greetings and salutations to all the curious minds out there!

Following the responses to last week’s blog, I thought it would be a great idea to look into how research on the impacts of tourism on the environment has developed since the 1970s and 80s when it was just beginning, and the new ways of thinking about these impacts. Last week we delved into some of the basic system models used to conceptualise the tourism life-cycle and categorise the environmental impacts of tourism. This week we’re fast-forwarding to the 21^st century and looking into the relationship between mass tourism/travel and globalisation, how this is linked with the rise of cheap flights and internet communication technologies, and some of the modern global environmental changes this is linked to.

Globalisation and the Tourist Industry

Globalisation refers to the increasing interconnectedness of the world through a global network of transportation, trade and communication (IMF, 2000; Dwyer, 2015). It is increasingly recognised that tourism is a globalised industry with an extended supply chain (Hall and Page, 2014).

Central to this understanding of tourism as a globalised industry is the rise of cheap air travel. Aviation comprises the primary mode of travel to numerous tourism locations, and for some can constitute 100% of international tourist arrivals (Bieger and Wittmer, 2006). Tourism is a driving force in the evolution of air travel, for example in the formation of new aviation business models like charter airlines. Similarly, developments in air transport have made available novel destinations as well as forms of tourism such as long-haul trips. Since the deregulation of the European aviation industry in the late 1980s, the subsequent increase in competition meant new business models emerged, including low cost carriers (LCC) (Bieger and Wittmer, 2006). LCCs offer increasingly cheap prices for flights, thus gaining significant air traffic volumes as well as new modes of tourism including short-stay city breaks (Bieger and Wittmer, 2006). Thus the increasing accessibility to cheap air transport is a major driving force in international tourism growth; this can be seen through the remarkably similar growth curves of air passengers and the international tourist arrivals (Figure 1).

Data for graph sourced from: The World Bank (Air Passenger Data) and The World Bank (Arrivals Data).

Furthermore, the Internet and social media has been a key development in this expansion of the tourism industry, as consumers can use it to collect information on potential destinations and quickly compare prices across service providers before booking online (Dwyer,2015). Thus the Internet has been important in the growth of international flights and package holidays.

In more recent years, strong economic growth in countries such as the BRICs (Brazil-Russia-India-China) can be expected to promote further increases in international tourism as their rising middle classes have more disposable income for travel. Tourism is projected to grow by 3.3% annual at least till 2030 (UNWTO, 2012), driven mainly by this economic growth. Furthermore, increasing globalisation has supported growth in the tourism industry as consumers become increasingly aware of different cultures and lifestyles, and thus more ‘international’ and ‘cosmopolitan’ in their lifestyle choices (Dwyer, 2015).

Environmental impacts associated with the modern tourist industry

During the 20^th century much research undertaken on tourism’s environmental impacts focused on impacts at the destination or on the local scale, omitting other elements of the geographical tourism system, such as the transit region and the origin area (Hall and Page, 2014). This fails to recognise the globalised nature of the tourism industry. Activity in one location can affect the entire system, particularly due to the cross-boundary nature of several environmental problems associated with the tourist industry, such as water and air pollution (Bridge, 2002). Furthermore, tourism activities can add up globally. For example, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at one location contribute to the global balance of GHGs and therefore have more than a localised effect.

In this following section I shall discuss some of these global environmental challenges associated with the rise of mass tourism and travel.

Air Pollution

Tourism related transport, particularly air travel, is a major emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG) and thus contributor to global warming (Dwyer, 2015). Overall, transport is the primary factor adding to tourism-related emissions of GHGs: in fact, it can been estimated that transport accounts for a whopping 94% of the tourism sector's role in global warming (Gössling, 2002).

Emissions from aircraft need particular consideration because they’re released directly into the troposphere and bottom stratosphere, where they have a much greater effect on radiative forcing and ozone levels (IPCC, 1999). Aircraft emissions modify the Earth’s climate and radiation budget via direct emissions of radiatively active substances (e.g. CO₂ , H₂O) that trap terrestrial radiation resulting in global warming and chemical substances that alter natural greenhouse gases (NO_xand SO₂); and release of other substances (e.g. H₂O and soot) which cause cloud formation (e.g. contrails) (IPCC, 1999).

So there we have it! The tourist industry of today - huge, globalised and linked to many global environmental issues. In future blog posts, we'll look in further detail at some of these global environmental issues being exacerbated through the tourist industry. Stay tuned folks!