AUSTRALIA: The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) 24th Global Summit in Perth, Western Australia, has kicked off with an update to its environmental footprint data.
WTTC’s latest Environmental & Social Research (ESR), created in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, revealed that in 2023 Travel & Tourism accounted for 6.7 per cent of all emissions globally, down from 7.8 per cent in 2019, when Travel & Tourism was at its peak.
Last year, Travel & Tourism’s contribution to global GDP almost reached pre-pandemic levels at US$9.9TN, just 4 per cent shy of the sector’s peak.
However, in 2023 global GHG emissions were 12 per cent below the 2019 peak, with GHG intensity (emissions per unit of GDP) falling 8.4 per cent during this period.
Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO said: “Our sector is proving that we can grow responsibly. We’re decoupling growth from emissions – Travel & Tourism is expanding economically while lowering its environmental footprint.
“This is a defining moment, proving that innovation and sustainability go hand in hand in shaping the future of global tourism.”
Simpson, however, noted that the sector still needed to ‘up its game’ to meet the Paris climate targets.
“Our aim is absolute reductions. We must accelerate this progress significantly to meet the Paris climate targets. We’re on the right track, but we need to up our game.”
WTTC said a key driver of Travel & Tourism’s emissions is the energy used to power its operations.
Last year the sector’s reliance on fossil fuel energy sources (oil, coal, and natural gas) dropped to 88.2 per cent from 90 per cent in 2019, and the share of low-carbon energy sources (nuclear and renewables) increased from 5.1per cent in 2019 to 5.9 per cent in 2023, reflecting ongoing efforts to reduce dependence on fossil fuels.
Photo by Khadeeja Yasser on Unsplash