PATA: Asians worried by climate change

BANGKOK – Asia's travel industry needs to take heed of the results of recent polls showing that Asian consumers and businesses are increasingly worried about the impacts of climate change, the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) said today.

"Some observers have suggested that Asia lags behind Europe and other regions in expressing concern about climate change," said PATA president & CEO Peter de Jong. “But these polls show that Asians are worried and the travel industry needs to be responding to these concerns."

A GlobeScan survey of 1,000 consumers from 20 countries in five continents between May and August 2007 found that people in Asia were generally more worried than Europeans that climate change would pose a threat to themselves and their family (eight in 10 or more in China, India, Indonesia and the Philippines compared to 74 percent in Italy, 69 percent in Britain and 58 percent in Germany).

Asian business leaders are also worried. A Pricewaterhouse Coopers survey of 1,150 CEOs in 50 countries, conducted between September and November 2007, found that 79 percent of Asian CEOs were worried that climate change would lead to rising energy costs.

De Jong said Asian hoteliers, tour operators and industry players who believed climate change was not a significant issue were not only out of touch with consumer attitudes, but also ran the risk of encouraging governments and regulators to act on their behalf.

"The nature of tourism makes it a soft target for lobby groups and regulators. The truth is, if we don't self-regulate, and quickly, governments will do it for us. And that's where the pain will be," he said.

PATA is hosting the inaugural PATA CEO Challenge in Bangkok on April 29 -30, 2008.