Of climate issues and long-haul travel

A slowdown of air travels could have a major impact on the way Germans travel should they heed the advice and opt to stay home or travel by train to neighbouring countries instead of going all around the world. German Research Centre for Holiday and Travel (F.U.R.) cited Germans made 64.4 million trips last year. On this total, long-haul trips had a market share of about seven percent, the equivalent of 4.3 million German travellers spending at least five days outside their country. Long-haul trips continue to gain market share year after year and the trend would still continue over the next years, it cited. According to Andreas Troge, president of the German Federal Agency for the environment, a traveller flying from Germany to South-east Asia will release over six tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO²) in the atmosphere. By comparison, a German holiday-maker travelling by train to the Baltic Sea in Northern Germany would only release 35 kilos CO². This is a fact that immediately prompted a German politician to exclaim, “Spend a holiday in Sylt instead of the Seychelles!” Sylt is a famous resort island in Northern Germany. Reactions to calls for reduced air travel have been diverse. During ITB, Thailand tourism minister Suvit Yodmani declared to approve completely a new eco tax. “Even if it means a slight diminution of the number of tourists to Thailand, I believe that protecting our world’s natural resources is more important”, he explained. At the other end of the spectrum was Lufthansa chairman, Wolfgang Mayrhuber. “The plane is the most ecological and rational means of transportation for distances of over 350 kilometres. I would like to see the end of ecology’s populism by politicians”, he said. There was a group of expert panels which cited that air transport would only contribute for 1.5 percent to 3 percent of the greenhouse gas effect. UN-WTO secretary general, Francesco Frangialli, remains more balanced in his judgement and would like to avoid a frontal chock between environment issues and tourism development. He said, “The deterioration of our environment and climate changes have dramatic consequences on tourism and economies in many countries. 2006 was, in fact, the hottest year in the history of the world’s climate. As a consequence, many mountain resorts already experience a lack of snow due to the warming and more countries are victim of natural disasters.” Frangialli acknowledged that the warmer climate creates a string of new problems: the rise of waters would conduct to the disappearing of smaller islands, further limiting water resources in many countries or accelerate the desertification in other parts of the world. Discouraging people to travel to other continents, he added, would also have negative consequences, especially on the poorest countries. “Think twice before acting,” he warned. “Many of the developing countries have only tourism as a single resource to alleviate poverty. Just look at the consequence of a group of foreign tourists, who would decide to cancel a trip to Borobudur temple in Indonesia on environmental concerns. They will deprive a guide of his income and most probably his entire family. With a multiplier effect, it is even an entire community which will be deprived of a living.”In the world’s 50 least developed countries (LDC), tourism grew six times the rate of Europe over the past decade. Even if most of the trade do not predict a major slowdown in long haul trips, it could, however, certainly discourage a small minority of travellers to venture outside their continent. The best way to offset the impact is for tour operators and NTOs to foster and encourage sustainable tourism and highlight also the impact of a tourism slowdown on local population. As explained by the UN-WTO, climate change brings also some opportunities, such as the restructuring of the tourism demand and supply patterns.Extreme hot temperatures in summer might for example reduce flows of visitors during the high season to seaside resorts but develop also new behaviours: travel during cooler seasons or the visit of higher altitude areas such as mountains. It will also push governments to monitor pollution index and encourage the development of alternative transportation systems such as trains or public transport. And last but not least, it will certainly force local population as well as tourists to behave in a more responsible way in their daily life.