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Despite travel and tourism supporting an estimated 10% of global gross domestic product and roughly one in 10 jobs worldwide, consumers are increasingly aware of the environmental impacts of their wanderlust. 

While many tourists are aware of sustainable travel and tourism, research conducted by Visa and Oxford Economics found that 41% feel they lack information about sustainable travel options, and 36% feel that available information is not credible.

As a global network facilitating payments across these journeys, Visa has a unique view of travellers’ consumption choices and patterns – and an incredibly powerful data set that can help transform the future of travel. But it will take more than the private sector alone to successfully implement change. 

As the world’s leaders gather in Dubai this week at the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP28, here are four ways that the private and public sectors can think about teaming up in their effort to slow the impact of travel and tourism and protect local communities and ecosystems:

1. Speak the same language

I’m not suggesting that the Tower of Babel could solve the issue of sustainable travel, but the public and private sectors need to come together to agree on a framework for measuring trends in sustainability. Having access to and agreed parameters about how to collect and use high-quality data is a vital resource, allowing policy-makers and businesses to set targets and gauge progress.

Frameworks such as the World Economic Forum’s Travel and Tourism Development Index and the European Commission’s European Tourism Indicators System have proliferated, yet there remains a lack of clarity regarding what constitutes a sustainable travel choice. The private sector can help the public sector close that gap by leveraging the power of alternative sources such as payment transaction data, AI and more.

2. Help close the ‘say-do’ gap

There has long been a notable “say-do” gap in travellers’ stated preferences versus their actual consumption patterns. Visa’s research finds that this gap is largely driven by information barriers: both informational gaps like a lack of accessible information and credibility gaps where information is available but not trusted. 

In the payments industry, offering sustainability-focused benefits to cardholder products can enable cardholders to understand the environmental impact of their spending, potentially helping to narrow the say-do gap by encouraging sustainable consumption. How much change we can drive depends on how successful the public and private sectors are at coming together to ensure that consumers have easy access to credible information about sustainable choices.

3. Make local transit truly accessible

Whenever someone visits me in London for the first time, their knee-jerk (and jet-lagged) response to landing at Heathrow is to hop in a taxi. Not only is that a carbon-intensive means of getting around – it’s just not that efficient given traffic and other delays. Tap your phone to ride on the Heathrow Express and you’ll get into the city much quicker, or those on a budget can take the London Underground.

The public and private sectors need to continue to come together to make public transit a simpler way to get around as a tourist. Removing entry barriers with contactless payments is one important way – but there’s even more innovation to be done as new hyper-customised trip-planning apps and technology become available that can tell tourists the fastest or most sustainable way to get around town.

4. Realize that sometimes it is about the destination

When too many people visit an attraction at one time, it may have negative repercussions for local communities and ecosystems. The public and private sectors must come together to encourage attractions and destination management in order to prevent overtourism.

Beaches are a prime example of destinations that are often overcrowded, to the detriment of the local ecosystem. Some national parks in the US, on the other hand, are good examples of places that have successfully implemented reasonable limits on visitors. For example, Muir Woods National Monument in Marin County, California requires visitors to book a reservation in advance.

By taking steps such as imposing reasonable limits on the number of visitors, promoting off-season travel, and introducing dynamic pricing, attractions can limit the likelihood and negative impacts of overtourism. 

For example, Visa Destination Insights helped the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority manage both overcrowding and seasonal lulls at the ski and holiday hotspot on the California/Nevada border. Ultimately, sustainable management of attractions will require careful stewardship and close collaboration between the public and private sectors.

There’s a lot of work ahead – but by bringing together the strength of the public and private sectors, we can strive towards meaningful change.

This article is republished from the World Economic Forum under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article here.

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The [northern hemisphere] summer of 2023 has been very significant for the travel industry. By the end of July, international tourist arrivals globally reached 84% of pre-pandemic levels. In some European countries, such as France, Denmark and Ireland, tourism demand even surpassed its pre-pandemic level.

This may be great news economically, but there’s concern that a return to the status quo is already showing dire environmental and social consequences.

The summer saw record-breaking heatwaves across many parts of the world. People were forced to flee wildfires in Greece and Hawaii, and extreme weather warnings were issued in many popular holiday destinations like Portugal, Spain and Turkey. Experts attributed these extreme conditions to climate change.

Tourism is part of the problem. The tourism sector generates around one-tenth of the greenhouse gas emissions that are driving the climate crisis.

The negative impacts of tourism on the environment have become so severe that some are suggesting drastic changes to our travel habits are inevitable. In a report from 2023 that analysed the future of sustainable travel, tour operator Intrepid Travel proposed that “carbon passports” will soon become a reality if the tourism industry hopes to survive.

What is a carbon passport?

The idea of a carbon passport centres on each traveller being assigned a yearly carbon allowance that they cannot exceed. These allowances can then “ration” travel.

This concept may seem extreme. But the idea of personal carbon allowances is not new. A similar concept (called “personal carbon trading”) was discussed in the [UK’s] House of Commons in 2008, before being shut down due to its perceived complexity and the possibility of public resistance.

The average annual carbon footprint for a person in the US is 16 tonnes – one of the highest rates in the world. In the UK this figure sits at 11.7 tonnes, still more than five times the figure recommended by the Paris Agreement to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C.

Globally, the average annual carbon footprint of a person is closer to 4 tonnes. But, to have the best chance of preventing temperature rise from overshooting 2°C, the average global carbon footprint needs to drop to under 2 tonnes by 2050. This figure equates to around two return flights between London and New York.

Intrepid Travel’s report predicts that we will see carbon passports in action by 2040. However, several laws and restrictions have been put in place over the past year that suggest our travel habits may already be on the verge of change.

Targeting air travel

Between 2013 and 2018, the amount of CO₂ emitted by commercial aircrafts worldwide increased by 32%. Improvements in fuel efficiency are slowly reducing per passenger emissions. But research from 2014 found that whatever the industry’s efforts to reduce its carbon emissions, they will be outweighed by the growth in air traffic.

For emission reductions to have any meaningful effect, ticket prices would have to rise by 1.4% each year, discouraging some people from flying. However, in reality, ticket prices are falling.

Some European countries are beginning to take measures to reduce air travel. As of 1 April 2023, passengers on short-haul flights and older aircraft in Belgium have been subject to increased taxes to encourage alternative forms of travel.

Less than two months later, France banned short-haul domestic flights where the same trip can be made by train in two-and-a-half hours or less. Spain is expected to follow suit.

A similar scheme could also be on the horizon for Germany. In 2021, a YouGov poll found that 70% of Germans would support such measures to fight climate change if alternative transport routes like trains or ships were available.

Cruises and carbon

It’s not just air travel that’s being criticised. An investigation by the European Federation for Transport and Environment in 2023 found that cruise ships pump four times as many sulphuric gases (which are proven to cause acid rain and several respiratory conditions) into the atmosphere than all of Europe’s 291 million cars combined.

Statistics like these have forced European destinations to take action against the cruise industry. In July, Amsterdam’s council banned cruise ships from docking in the city centre in a bid to reduce tourism and pollution – an initiative that has shown success elsewhere.

In 2019, Venice was the most polluted European port, due to large numbers of cruise ship visits. But it dropped to 41st place in 2022 after a ban on large cruise ships entering the city’s waters reduced air pollutants from ships in Venice by 80%.

Changing destinations

Intrepid Travel’s report also highlights that not only how we travel, but where we travel will soon be impacted by climate change. Boiling temperatures will probably diminish the allure of traditional beach destinations, prompting European tourists to search for cooler destinations such as Belgium, Slovenia and Poland for their summer holidays.

Several travel agencies reported seeing noticeable increases in holiday bookings to cooler European destinations like Scandinavia, Ireland and the UK during 2023’s peak summer travel months.

Whatever the solution may be, changes to our travel habits look inevitable. Destinations across the globe, from Barcelona to the Italian riveria and even Mount Everest are already calling for limits on tourist numbers as they struggle to cope with crowds and pollution.

Holidaymakers should prepare to change their travel habits now, before this change is forced upon them.

Ross Bennett-Cook is a visiting lecturer at the University of Westminster’s school of architecture and cities.

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here.

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The travel and tourism sector entered 2023 like a marathon runner hitting the last six miles of a race. It fought its way through almost two years of the Covid-19 pandemic — only to be overwhelmed, as the disease waned, by an unprecedented surge in travel by people tired of quarantines and lockdowns.

With many in the sector still struggling to fill their workforces to handle this significant uptake of travel, big and small companies alike now face their next challenge — the accelerating transition from voluntary to mandatory sustainability reporting. Are they ready for it?

In 2024, the first wave of tougher mandatory regulation on sustainability disclosure takes effect as new European Union sustainability rules start to compel the largest companies operating in the bloc to begin gathering data on greenhouse gas emissions.

These new rules — including the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive — also require companies to submit annual transition plans for reducing emissions. Plans must be compliant with limiting the rise in Earth’s temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius — a target set by the 2015 Paris climate agreement — with the progress on meeting those goals available to corporate stakeholders and the public annually.

But the last couple of years have been busy when it came to sustainability. Not only did the EU impose new mandatory regulations, so did the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, India, and Singapore.

The Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States is also expected to move in the next few months to adopt similar Climate Disclosure Requirements that would make formerly voluntary emissions disclosures mandatory for US publicly registered companies.

Most recently, the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB) — affiliated with the influential International Accounting Standards Board — released what will eventually become the international norm for sustainability accounting. All the new standards require disclosure of Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions under the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for corporate accounting.

New report and survey

Given the deluge of new mandatory standards, it’s time for travel and tourism to assess how prepared the sector is. After surveying sector members for a report expected to be released in the fourth quarter, the WTTC and Oliver Wyman have concluded there is still considerable work to be done before the sector will be up to the task.

According to WTTC’s groundbreaking research, travel and tourism is currently responsible for 8.1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. While many of the sector’s biggest companies have set 2050 emission-reduction targets, just as many have just started to consider how to address climate change in their business. Thus, there is a wide range of understanding and readiness in travel and tourism when it comes to the upcoming reporting requirements.

Navigating the compliance landscape will be no easy task — especially for a sector with operations spanning multiple countries and enterprises that run from a few employees to thousands. Even in a single jurisdiction, the complexities of managing multiple subsidiaries, suppliers, and partnerships will be daunting.

These hurdles become even higher, considering that 80% of sector members are small and midsize companies with limited resources to invest in new personnel and technology. Recognising this, WTTC and Oliver Wyman will be including in the upcoming report a tool to help the sector navigate the requirements.

Company trepidations

One concern raised by most participants in our survey was the sector’s lack of resources, capabilities, and expertise to tackle the demands of the new regulations. In the past at many travel and tourism companies, sustainability personnel were more likely to deal with branding and marketing or operational issues than with accounting or data collection.

But compliance with these kinds of rigorous sustainability disclosures rises above a mere accounting exercise to become more of an organisation-wide shift in culture, and sustainability teams will not be able to tackle the upcoming challenge alone. More education and internal expertise on sustainability will be needed across organisations.

Another challenge facing the sector is data collection. The broad and fragmented value chains of many companies in the sector, make it not only difficult to ensure that data is assembled in a timely manner, but also that the information on emissions — especially Scope 3 emissions, which are produced by a company’s upstream suppliers and downstream users — is in fact accurate. With the absence of sector-specific guidance, some form of sector collaboration may be needed for the first few years.

Generally, companies are struggling to reconcile the investment needed in new data collection capabilities with investment already being made in initiatives to reduce emissions and meet other environmental, social, and governance goals.

Of course, at the same time, additional spending on new personnel and operations has been required across most organisations to meet the rising demand.

But ready or not, the regulations have arrived, and especially for the biggest companies and networks, the time to act is now.

The good news for the sector is the potential benefit travel and tourism enjoys from any efforts to preserve nature and the planet’s hospitable climate. Few sectors will be challenged more by the rise in severe weather and environmental crises as well as the disappearance of Earth’s biodiversity, which should provide adequate incentive for companies to go beyond mere compliance.

Christopher Imbsen is director of sustainability at WTTC, and Dan Darcy is principal of transportation and services practice at Oliver Wyman.

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As the observed effects of climate change intensify, the chorus asking how a more sustainable tourism future can be achieved has amplified, and rightly so.

Contentions regarding the sustainability credentials of tourism have heightened and links between popular destinations and crises have become ever more noticeable. Summer wildfires this year in Hawaii, Italy and Greece illustrate a sector prone to external and internal shocks. Yet, it remains a sector that is critical to supporting the livelihoods of many. 

Throw into the mix the sector’s carbon intensity, the tendency for tourist demand to overwhelm local well-being, the environmental effects of inappropriate tourism developments and, on the flip side, its vital economic contributions, the urgency to optimise its potential to destination communities and minimize its shortcomings is pressing.

What then are salient issues that might lead to more sustainable tourism futures and the desire for a more benign tourism sector?

The tourism-conservation nexus

Tourism and conservation are natural allies, yet questions remain about whether they hinder or help conservation efforts. Wildlife tourism is projected to be a US$300bn global business by 2032 as the desire of travellers to get closer to nature grows. 

The Great Barrier Reef, for example, a major tourist drawcard, contributes US$4.8bn to Australia’s economy and supports 64,000 jobs. After multiple mass coral bleaching events exacerbated by climate change, its placement on the UNESCO endangered list is called for. On the upside, however, there are signs that citizen science is helping tourists contribute to conservation efforts.

In Rwanda, high-priced education programmes targeted at tourists have underwritten mountain gorilla conservation efforts. As the population of these animals have increased, it provides evidence of the potential for tourism to contribute in measurable ways to the conservation imperative.

Sustainable tourism messaging

With myriad appeals for tourists to act more responsibly, how can messaging be more impactful in driving behaviour change? Sustainable development is reinforced and the Sustainable Development Goals are prominent, but how can we strengthen the messaging?

The new normal was to have led to a heightened awareness of travelling responsibly. The 2023 Global Sustainability Research study noted that 43% of consumers would reject buying from companies that were not acting in socially or environmentally responsible ways. According to the 2022 Global Travel Trends Report, 78% of respondents desired to make positive impacts on the communities they visited. 

The appetite to be more responsible is apparent. Closing the ‘intention-action’ gap remains a challenge, however. Alas, this challenge transcends tourism.

Mitigating food waste

Food waste accounts for 8% – 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions – three times as much as aviation industry emissions. And rotting food produces methane that is evidently more environmentally harmful than carbon dioxide.

Hotels produce a staggering 79,000 tons of food waste annually and the urgency to address this wonton wastage is pressing. Operational measures to reverse this trend are overdue and myriad approaches are called for, including resizing serving portions, rethinking kitchen management and staff training, devising innovative responses to repurposing leftovers, including donating to community organizations and insisting on optimising the use of the ‘whole’ ingredient.

Carnival Corporation, for example, has installed ‘biodigesters‘ across 600 cruise ships to process organic waste. This has led to a reduction in food waste by more than 30% per person, with aggressive goals to reach 40% by 2025 and 50% by 2030. This signals that incremental change can happen.

Workforce shortages

As the tourism recovery gains momentum and 2019 tourist visitation levels are realized, the challenge to secure a stable and well-trained workforce is a drag on the sustainability of sector enterprises. The post-COVID-19-pandemic exodus of workers and their reluctance to return adds further pressure to a sector desperate to return to growth.

In 2019, the sector was estimated to comprise of nearly 1 in 10 jobs globally and of these, women accounted for more than 50%. Additionally, many tourism jobs are filled by migrants and young people. 

For a sector that is labour intensive, workforce shortages can be debilitating. Yet, just how the sector can convince people that employment and working conditions are attractive enough, remains a formidable constraint. Striving for decent work in the sector requires urgent consideration if the brain drain is to be stemmed.

Staff shortages experienced by airlines and accommodation providers have seen service standards decline and operating costs increase as cancellations or scaling back of services intensify financial pressures.

Where to for sustainable tourism?

The genesis of sustainable tourism is linked to the 1987 Brundtland Report, more commonly known as the Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future. This report was a watershed that set the tone for the use of the term sustainable development, which, at its core, referenced the notion of intergenerational equity. 

Intergenerational equity rests on ensuring that what is being done today, should not compromise the planet for future generations. The emergence of regenerative tourism is a timely throwback to the Brundtland report.

Notwithstanding, climate change and its effects equivocate that evidence of an increasingly compromised planet contradicts suggestions that sustainable development is underway.

The four issues highlighted are clearly not exhaustive and comprise a sliver of broader concerns. Nonetheless, their illustration attempts to highlight the complex and diverse nature of the imperative towards more sustainable tourism futures. Buy-in towards a global compact for sustainable tourism is desperately sought. 

If the epitome of sustainable tourism is to leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but photographs, a long road lies ahead. Whither sustainable tourism?

Republished from the World Economic Forum in accordance with Creative Commons Attribution. Read the original article here.

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Since the significant easing of its pandemic border control measures last October, Japan has seen a steady return of foreign tourists.

According to the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO), the number of visitors to Japan in July reached 2.32 million, recovering to about 80% of 2019 levels.

And Japanese people are travelling their own country more, too. According to the travel trend survey by Japan Travel Bureau (JTB), 72.5 million people in Japan travelled within their country during the summer vacation season in July and August — almost returning to pre-pandemic levels. International travel, meanwhile, was low: 1.2 million people, which is 40% of the 2019 figures.

Many people wished to travel abroad but were unable or unwilling to do so cited concerns about safety and health, the lengthy immigration procedures involved in international travel and the unfavourable exchange rates and high costs.

For the outbound recovery to gain momentum, a safe and economically enabling environment is essential.

Overtourism: a challenge to sustainability

As the influx of tourists revitalises local economies, a growing concern is emerging: the resurgence of overtourism, where popular destinations are flooded with an excessive number of visitors. In response, Prime Minister Kishida Fumio has announced plans to develop solutions this coming autumn to combat overtourism, addressing its negative impacts on local life, including congestion, traffic jams and litter.

Even before the Covid-19 pandemic, overtourism had started to plague certain Japanese tourist spots. As Japan’s tourism industry and tourist destinations hit hard by the pandemic make strides toward recovery, it essential to view these challenges as opportunities for positive change and transform tourism into something more sustainable.

Hotels across Japan are accelerating their sustainability efforts. One noteworthy example is the Tokyo Station Hotel, located within the Tokyo Station building, which is designated as a National Important Cultural Property, is implementing the “CO₂ Zero STAY” programme to virtually eliminate CO₂ emissions generated during a stay by all rooms booked through the official website.

This initiative, which uses the carbon offset system, calculates and visualises the amount of CO₂ emissions generated by guest stays and invests the equivalent amount in emissions reduction activities, thereby reducing the emissions to virtually zero. All costs are covered by the hotel itself, meaning that guests contribute to expanding forest conservation efforts and supporting renewable energy simply by staying at the hotel.

Another player in the sustainable hospitality scene is Mori Trust Hotels & Resorts. They are taking steps to preserve tourism resources by introducing eco-friendly amenities like wooden and bamboo toothbrushes and hairbrushes, as well as razors and shower caps with reduced plastic content.

They are also eliminating individual packaging for soaps and amenities while charging for these items. The company is currently reassessing the amenities used in their 18 hotels nationwide, which collectively use around 16 tons of plastic each year, and aims to cut down the plastic used in amenities by over 90% by 2024.

Traveller behaviour and tourism

As hotels and other players in the tourism industry move towards a more sustainable future, it is equally crucial that travellers, who are the main drivers of tourism, follow suit and change their attitudes and behaviours.

According to the Sustainable Travel Report 2023, which gathered insights from over 33,000 travellers across 35 countries and territories, 76% of global travellers — and 56% of Japanese travellers — express a desire to embrace more sustainable travel over the coming 12 months.

On the other hand, 76% of global travellers and 75% of Japanese travellers say that the global energy crisis and rising costs are impacting their spending plans. This has led to travellers being more budget-conscious, with only 43% of global travellers and 22% of Japanese travellers willing to pay extra for certified sustainable travel experiences.

In light of this trend, offering discounts and financial incentives by tourism providers may motivate travellers to opt for sustainable travel options. Furthermore, providing more information and choices can also promote sustainable travel, since almost half of both global and Japanese travellers feel there are not enough sustainable travel options available to them.

Regenerative tourism: the future of tourism

Guests are the key to creating a sustainable environment. To achieve sustainable tourism that considers environmental, social and economic impacts, it is essential to change the mindset of travellers, who must act responsibly in terms of their impact on local communities and the natural environment. The realisation of a future in which regenerative tourism, a further evolution of sustainable tourism, becomes mainstream depends on changing the behaviour of both hosts and travellers.

In the World Economic Forum’s Travel & Tourism Development Index 2021: Rebuilding for a Sustainable and Resilient Future, Japan took the top spot in the development index ranking.

Japan, a highly regarded tourist destination, is leading the way in the future of regenerative tourism — where the more tourists visit, the more the place changes for the better — which will have a significant impact on the transformation of the global tourism industry.

Naoko Tochibayashi is public engagement lead for the World Economic Forum Japan and Naoko Kutty is a writer for Forum Agenda. This article is republished in accordance with the Creative Commons. Read the original article here.

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In the wake of the pandemic, tourism is experiencing a period of transition in which two trends which were already prevalent pre-Covid-19 have gained momentum:

• Sustainability, together with climate change, the circular economy, and the Sustainable Development Goals of the UN’s 2030 Agenda
• Digitalisation, together with the new technological revolution

If we focus on sustainability, whilst still emphasising that technological ecosystems are essential for the development of tourism, we have to be aware that making sustainable that which has not been designed as such – a destination, a resort, a mode of transport, etc – is not easy, fast, or affordable.

This is especially true since, rather than conforming to standards, labels or certifications, we must change our relationship with the environment in order to be sustainable, rather than just appearing to be so.

Sustainability must be economical, environmental and social

When a term is used so frequently, its meaning tends to become diluted. In fact, in this case, the term sustainable tourism is increasingly being replaced by regenerative tourism.

Not all aspects of sustainability are addressed with equal emphasis. Economic sustainability is taken for granted and environmental sustainability is taken into immediate consideration, while social sustainability is put on the back burner (see, among many others, the case of Ibiza and the cost of housing).

If there is to be true social sustainability, which in turn drives economic and environmental sustainability, the governance of tourism has to evolve.

Before the pandemic, and in the post-pandemic period, news related to the sustainability of tourism appeared in the media.

Negative attitudes towards tourism are once again prevalent, although in reality these are not directed against tourism itself but against certain models of tourism development, the product of a certain governance where it is important to take a look at who makes decisions and how.

More than a one-off phenomenon, the problem of mass tourism is being tackled with various types of measures, such as the following:

• The use of fiscal measures(e.g. ecotaxes)
• Limiting the capacity of certain spaces (or even temporarily closing them)
• The use of variable prices to regulate demand
• The use of technological tools that assist in redirecting tourist flows, in an attempt to disperse the masses to other attractions that are not overcrowded (assuming that those affected wish to do so)
• The sanctioning of certain behaviour
• Limiting accommodation options

The case of the island of Sardinia and its beaches is perhaps less well known than others, but very telling in this context.

Appreciating tourism

The positive attitude of the population towards the impact of tourism development in their area may change significantly if the negative impact is perceived as outweighing the positive effects of it.

This happens when the tolerance level of the local community is exceeded and tourism no longer contributes positively to their quality of life. The problem arises when those who live there permanently begin to feel that friction with tourists disturbs and damages their lives to excess.

When no one asks them, listens to them, takes them into account and decisions are made that severely affect their lives, it is not surprising that citizens turn against tourism when, in reality, the problem is not tourism, but the management of it.

It is only by involving these communities in decision-making that we will find the missing link in tourism governance.

Today, we usually speak of co-governance rather than governance. In other words, public-private partnership: a two-way governance which, although necessary, is not sufficient because they alone are not the only stakeholders involved.

A partnership with citizens, in a broad sense, is essential to ensure their welfare and to avoid or reverse the trend of disconnection with tourism activities.

The point is that tourism is required as an economic activity that affects the entire community, and the latter is something that seems to be missing or unwilling to be addressed. Tourism should not be created by political and business representatives without the local people, but with them. That’s the big difference.

There is an added complexity, particularly in terms of legitimacy, in identifying the representatives of stakeholders in the territory and establishing effective participation mechanisms – not only with a voice, but also with a vote in certain decisions. However, this is the best way to support the tourism industry and to overcome mistrust and detachment.

We must move towards inclusive and integrative governance, with a three-pronged approach: public, private and community, whose study and application are virtually unknown fields.

The question is not so much of what to do, but how to do it: a new model of shared leadership must include a redistribution of power within the system, which will require an extra effort to break down barriers and overcome resistance.

Co-governance and well-being

To avoid negative attitudes towards tourism, and promote harmonious relationships between locals and visitors as a path to sustainability, tourism must be able to forge a broad alliance with society.

It is not about managing a destination, but a community with permanent residents and tourists, the latter being understood as temporary residents. The well-being of both must be at the core of the governance architecture.

Although there is usually short-sightedness in political decisions – marked by electoral horizons – and in business decision-making – especially if they are geared towards speculation and immediate returns – the lack of support from the local population will end up generating a boomerang effect.

Do we know the type of tourism development desired (or tolerated) by host communities? Are the voices of the local population heard and taken into account in the decision making processes, with a view to their well-being?

Local communities have a much more decisive role to play in consolidating democracies. A tourism-oriented society must be geared towards tourism and committed to its development and co-creation.

Alfonso Vargas Sánchez is a professor of business organisation and the strategic management of tourism at the University of Huelva, Spain. This article is republished from The Conversation in accordance with the Creative Commons. Read the original article here.

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One of the most stressful things about travelling is having to pack. But what if all you had to do was book your flight and the packing part — choosing, organizing, folding and making the clothes fit in your suitcase — came with your airline ticket?

Japan Airlines (JAL) is taking the term “packing light” to a new level with its new clothing rental service, Any Wear, Anywhere. The service provides international travellers with the option to rent sets of clothing from a range of choices, starting at a little over US$27 for two bottoms and three tops, reported Travel + Leisure.

“With more and more people flying again after the Covid-19 pandemic, and with the recent emphasis in sustainability, there is a growing movement around the world to promote sustainable tourism,” a press release from JAL said.

Multiple sets of seasonal clothing are available for rental in a range of sizes, from casual to smart casual or a combination of both, provided by Wefabrik. Travellers may rent as many as eight outfits for up to two weeks. The service is intended to reduce the weight of baggage and reduce carbon emissions, as well as save travellers hassle and time packing and laundering their own clothing. It also allows them to try on new styles without the pressure of buying them.

Reservations, delivery and washing of the clothes — which will be taken from overstock and pre-owned items — will be provided by Sumitomo Corporation. JAL will keep track of baggage weight reductions and corresponding carbon dioxide emissions reductions as a result of using the clothing rental service, and inform its customers.

JAL says that for each kilogram of weight that is avoided on a flight from Tokyo to New York, the carbon emissions from the aircraft are reduced by 0.75 kilograms, Simple Flying reported.

“Travellers increasingly desire to make more sustainable choices regarding their travel destinations, accommodations, transportation etc., they still lack sufficient options. For example, most travellers now enjoy eating at restaurants and staying at hotels at their destination, but they generally bring their own clothing from home,” the airline said.

To use the service, travellers need to register online and provide their JAL reference number, as well as the address of their short-term rental or hotel. Reservations must be made a month in advance, and the clothing will be made available to them for as long as two weeks.

“The concept of the service is therefore to provide a travel experience with minimal luggage by offering clothing rentals at the destination, thereby creating environmental value,” JAL said.

“By expanding the use of the service, we aim to create an environment where travellers can use local options for all aspects of their clothing, food, and accommodation, transforming travel and business trips into more sustainable experiences.”

JAL’s Any Wear, Anywhere service is being offered as a year-long trial through to 31 August of next year.

This article is republished from the World Economic Forum under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

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For many of us, the ready availability of low-cost air travel has become the norm rather than the exception.

Yet aviation is responsible for around 2.5% of global CO2 emissions, with most aircraft powered by jet gasoline. The European Commission predicts that by the middle of the 21st century, demand for flying could increase aviation’s greenhouse gas emissions by upwards of 300% over 2005 levels if no drastic measures are taken to reduce them.

The aviation industry has adopted the goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050. In October, the UN’s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) led two weeks of negotiations involving 184 nations to agree on CO2 emissions reduction measures. These include ramping up innovative aircraft technologies, “streamlining” flight operations and the increased production and use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF).

“States’ adoption of this new long-term goal for decarbonised air transport, following the similar commitments from industry groups, will contribute importantly to the green innovation and implementation momentum which must be accelerated over the coming decades to ultimately achieve emissions-free powered flight,” said the president of the ICAO Council, Salvatore Sciacchitano.

“As we move from commitment to action, it is essential for the industry to be backed by governments with a decarbonisation goal,” said Laia Barbarà, the industry decarbonisation lead for aviation at the World Economic Forum.

“ICAO’s Long Term Aspirational Goal (LTAG) of net zero by mid-century is a great step forward in that direction. The World Economic Forum stands ready to support ICAO, governments and the private sector globally as they work on next steps,” she added.

Making aviation fuel more sustainable

Sustainable Aviation Fuels can reduce emissions by 80% according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). SAF can be made from several sources ranging from agricultural waste to carbon captured from the air.

It is fully compatible with existing aircraft and fueling infrastructure. However, high production costs and limited supply has slowed its adoption. It is estimated that SAF comprises less than 0.1% of all jet fuel currently used.

IATA estimates that SAF could make up around 65% of the emissions reduction needed by aviation to reach net-zero by 2050. But it says “this will require a massive increase in production in order to meet demand. The largest acceleration is expected in the 2030s as policy support becomes global, SAF becomes competitive with fossil kerosene and credible offsets become scarcer.”

Offsetting emissions from aviation

IATA says the aviation industry won’t be able to completely eliminate emissions at source, and will need to mitigate the rest using a variety of offsetting mechanisms. This is the process where emissions are compensated for by the financing of a reduction in emissions elsewhere.

ICAO adopted the Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) in 2016, which has been heralded as the first global market-based measure for any sector. IATA says “CORSIA aims to stabilise international civil aviation net CO2 emissions at 2019 levels, from 2021, using offsetting programs.” It adds, “we envisage that as new technology such as SAF becomes widespread, the need for offsets will diminish”.

Electric and hydrogen can also help reduce aviation emissions

With short-haul flights of fewer than 600 miles accounting for more than 17% of airline emissions, new technologies like electric and hydrogen-powered aircraft are also being developed. It’s been estimated that all flights of fewer than 2,500 miles, which make up more than half of all CO2 emissions from aviation, could be electrified or powered by hydrogen.

European aviation giant Airbus is developing three types of hydrogen-fuelled zero-emission commercial aircraft which it says could enter service from 2035. They are: a turboprop plane carrying up to 100 passengers with a range of more than 1,000 nautical miles; a turbofan design (120-200 passengers) with a range of 2,000-plus nautical miles; and a “blended-wing body” design (up to 200 passengers) which could also fly over 2,000 nautical miles.

However, in order for hydrogen to be a carbon-neutral aviation fuel, it will need to be produced using sustainable methods. The ClimateWorks Foundation says “usage of green hydrogen (that is hydrogen produced using additional renewable energy) must be incentivised to achieve the deep decarbonisation required from the aviation sector”.

Business and government leaders need to align on a meaningful pathway to accelerate aviation’s decarbonisation for more companies to adopt SAF. The Clean Skies for Tomorrow Coalition is a global initiative to facilitate the transition to net-zero flying by 2050 – by accelerating the deployment of sustainable aviation fuel. Co-led by the World Economic Forum, the coalition of more than 100 companies is aiming to power global aviation with 10% SAF by 2030.

Stefan Ellerbeck is a senior writer of formative content for the World Economic Forum.

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• The Travel and Tourism sector accounts for an estimated 11% of global emissions.
• While surveys reveal that 71% of travellers intend to travel more sustainably, there are still significant gaps between consumers’ intentions and behaviour.
• Here are the roadblocks that get in the way of intention and reality and some ways to generate a more virtuous and sustainable cycle for the industry.

As COP27 continues, the urgency and scale of addressing the global climate and environmental challenges are once again taking centre stage. Accounting for an estimated 11% of global emissions, a share that is expected to grow, the Travel and Tourism (T&T) sector will play a critical role in meeting global climate goals.

In this context, governments and investors have mounting pressure on the sector to reduce emissions and increase sustainability through more stringent emissions standards, green tax incentives, and growing ESG-linked investments. Moreover, an increasing number of consumers are indicating a preference for more sustainable travel options.

In response, many travel companies, such as airlines, have made improving sustainability and minimising greenhouse gas emissions key business goals. However, to achieve these goals and transition into a more sustainable future, T&T companies must successfully develop products that enable more sustainable travel choices.

A rising demand for sustainable travel

Recent studies and survey results indicate that travellers increasingly value sustainable travel, indicating an opportunity for sustainable travel products. In parallel, a survey by Booking.com found that four out of five global travellers agreed that sustainable travel is a priority for them, with 71% intending to travel more sustainably and 78% aiming to stay at a sustainable property at least once a year.

Concerning the environment, specifically, 69% of respondents to an Expedia survey confirmed that they want to lessen their environmental footprint, and 75% said they would like to use more environmentally-friendly modes of transport.

However, while travellers seem to indicate an increased willingness and demand for environmentally-friendly and sustainable products, the uptake of sustainable travel products anecdotally does not show the same accelerated trend just yet.

As sustainable offerings are relatively in their infancy, there is limited research on actual purchasing behaviour. Furthermore, recent surveys revealed that travellers prefer companies’ sustainability practices and offerings to be more transparent, intuitive, and easy to access.

Roadblocks to sustainable consumer behaviour

Additionally, industry interviews and research we are conducting have helped identify a range of roadblocks that explain the gap between consumers’ stated intentions and what they are doing in practice.

These roadblocks can be classified or clustered into six main categories:

1) Limited availability – The roadblock of availability centres around the lack of a sustainable product substitute within a company’s offering. This includes limited overall sustainable product options as well as sustainable products that are competitive with more traditional offerings.

2) Lack of awareness – This roadblock refers to travellers’ lack of awareness of sustainability challenges in T&T, sustainability behaviours that can help overcome these challenges, and sustainable products on offer.

3) Low credibility – Low credibility refers to consumers wanting a greater degree of reassurance and information about the claims companies make concerning the sustainability of their products. Product aspects like transparency, coherent reporting, certification and verified labelling are all tied to improving credibility.

4) Price premium – Generally, sustainable travel options are deemed more expensive than their traditional counterparts. As the willingness to pay a premium for a more sustainable product varies by customer segment and is ever-evolving, customers often drop out from purchasing the alternative due to the higher price.

5) Cumbersome purchase experience – Customers are often discouraged from purchasing sustainable products if the process is burdensome and counterintuitive.

6) Lack of rewards/acknowledgement – This roadblock refers to the need to make customers feel rewarded for their efforts, both physical and emotional. Tools in this space help people facilitate the publishing of their sustainability efforts on social media or provide recognition in physical environments.

Addressing the say-do-gaps

Companies that can provide sustainable offerings that address these say-do-gaps will be better positioned to meet customer needs. As a result, a virtuous cycle can be generated in which increased purchase of sustainable products leads to greater company performance, reinforcing further investment into such options. In turn, the increasing supply of sustainable products would make it easier for travellers to behave sustainably, helping the T&T sector in its net zero transition.

To make a case for investment in sustainable travel products, Accenture and the Forum are working to explore the say-do-gap further, provide an overview of existing sustainable travel products and configurations, develop recommendations for creating sustainable products, and present the industry with a call to action. The full report on this topic will be published in December.

Jesko Neuenburg is managing director and global travel & aviation sustainability lead at Accenture, David Walfisch is principal director of travel sustainability at Accenture, Natalie Nehme is manager of travel sustainability at Accenture, and Maksim Soshkin is research and analysis specialist at the World Economic Forum.

This article is republished from The World Economic Forum under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

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