The Tourist Climate Footprint
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The Tourist Climate Footprint WWF Report on environmental impacts of holiday trips WWF Deutschland 1 Contents Introduction Footprints in the sand – they make As the WWF model calculation il- Holiday trips and the environment, holiday trends 4 us dream of the sound of the sea, of WWF Demands lustrates, German travel behaviour German travel behaviour 5 relaxation, of days or even weeks at should not serve as an example for The climate footprint of typical holiday trips 6 ease. Our wanderlust knows no ■ Climate protection must be- other countries. Quite the contrary, bounds, every year millions of Ger- come a core aspect of plan- it is high time the Tourist Climate Majorca: Summer, sunshine, beaches and more 7 mans gravitate towards the world’s ning and organizing new tour- Footprint of German tourists and Culture and wine in Trentino 8 beaches. In 2007, Germans set aside ism products tour operators be significantly re- nearly five percent of total annual ■ For every trip a fee depending duced. The time has come for the Viva México! 9 consumption for “the most beautiful on distance must be charged tourism industry to show responsi- Baltic Sea family summer 10 time of the year”, establishing a by the airlines and forwarded bility beyond the payment of com- Autumn vacation in Oberstdorf 11 new record with 61 billion Euros to climate protection projects pensations, and not to just paint a spent on travelling abroad (Source: ■ Tour operators must show few of their products green by fi- Skiing fun in Vorarlberg 12 Dresdner Bank). For years we have more transparency concern- nancing a handful of nature conser- Cruising the Mediterranean Sea 13 been holding our position as world ing climate impacts of their vation projects. Already in the plan- champion in travelling, and in terms products ning stage of tourism products, The Seven example trips compared 14 of money spent we are the most ■ The decision about the extent climate protection must be consid- German approachability in questions of travelling and the environment 15 travel-eager nation, followed by the of the trip footprint ultimately ered more thoroughly, and energy- How can tourism contribute to environmental conservation? 16 / 17 USA and Great Britain. rests with the consumers. conserving concepts in trip design - What can travel service providers do? They play a key part in the must be pressed ahead with. - What can tourists do? But are the sands of our favourite diminution of their climate vacation spots’ beaches the only footprint while critically pon- A transparent presentation of the Where to find further information 18 / 19 places we leave our footprints in? dering travel distance, while carbon dioxide footprint would em- At many of the world’s most beau- organizing transport, and power the consumer to deliberately White beach and a sea of turquoise and blue symbolize many a tourists’ dream holiday – like here in the Cape Verde Islands off the tiful places, the harm that tourism while deliberately choosing Western African shore. But the long journey by plane enormously amplifies the climate footprint. © Birgit Weerts / WWF choose more ecologically sound can do is already clearly discerni- accommodation facilities that alternatives in holiday travelling. ble: more traffic, mountains of comply with environmental And our survey shows that two waste, unchecked consumption of standards. thirds of all Germans expect to re- resources, uncontrolled develop- ceive competent environmental ad- ment and urban sprawl ruining vice already while planning their coastal sceneries. trips with the travel agencies. According to UNWTO1, an average Climate Footprint too large long distance holiday trip causes It does not have to be vacation 0.25 tons of carbon dioxide equiva - at home… In the face of climate change, emis- lents. sions of greenhouse gases connect- WWF is certain that travelling can ed to travelling have become more WWF analyzed German travel be- have positive effects for the visited and more relevant. Tourism produ- haviour and calculated the climate regions and their people. Tourism ces five percent of all greenhouse footprint of our favourite holiday offers chances for nature-orientated gas emissions. In this context, the trips, using typical example vaca- economic development and makes distance to the destination and the tions to destinations near and far. natural habitats more valuable. choice of transport for getting there The seven trips we examined in de- Where, if not on a holiday trip, do and back play by far the most im- tail are typical for Germans: A third we get to make unforgettable expe- portant part: Long distance trips by of all our holiday trips match one of riences of nature’s beauty! The fas- plane amount to not even three per- the seven trip types. The average cination for nature makes of travel- cent of all trips, but cause seventeen emissions resulting from the pre- lers very ambassadors of nature Impressum: percent of the harmful emissions sented example trips correspond to protection. Published by WWF Germany, Frankfurt am Main connected to tourism. Because car- circa one ton of carbon dioxide Technical consultancy: Institut für Tourismus- und Bäderforschung in Nordeuropa GmbH (N.I.T.), Kiel bon dioxide emissions in high alti- equivalents per trip – which is four With our advice on vacation behav- Authors: Bente Grimm, Henrike Beer, Wolfgang Günther (N.I.T.), Birgit Weerts (WWF) Translation: Nico Czaja tudes advance the greenhouse effect times the global average. If every- iour, tour operators as well as trav- Calculation of the Climate Footprint: Kirsten Havers, Martin Schmied (Öko-Institut Berlin e.V.) in a measure far greater than at body travelled like the Germans do, ellers can contribute to keeping our Editor: Heike Mühldorfer (WWF) Layout: Caroline Franz, Mannheim Production: N. Schuck, WWF ground level (the so-called RFI fac- worldwide travelling emission would footprints as small as possible. Druck: medialogik GmbH/Karlsruhe Printed on 100% recycled paper © 2008 WWF Germany Reprint, tor, Radiative Force Index), the im- multiply by four, leading to five bil- in excerpts or entirely, only with prior permission by the publisher pacts of air traffic on the climate are lion tons of carbon dioxide equiva- Title picture © Creativ Collection, back title © Julia Matyschek significantly larger. lents released into the atmosphere. 1 United Nations World Tourism Organisation 2 WWF Deutschland WWF Deutschland 3 Holiday Trips and the Environment The Germans’ holiday trips The most popular domestic and Travel behaviour: Means of international holiday destinations transportation, accommodation, The tourism industry is booming, trip duration and expenses the pressure on the last “natural oa- Holiday trends ses” is increasing. At the same time, According to a 2008 travel analy- In 2007, holding a market share of Travel behaviour developments tourism is more dependent on an in- The following long term tourism demand trends are becoming appar- sis6 of the Forschungsgemein- more than 30 Percent, Germany and tendencies can only be dis- tact environment than any other ent in Germany:2 schaft Urlaub und Reisen, 48.5 still is the Germans’ most popular cerned in long-term observations. business sector. Tourists thus are at ■ Volume: Stable, but with changed structures. Neither a lot more million Germans made at least one travel destination by far. Another In most cases there are only mar- the same time responsible for and nor a lot less holiday trips than before. More trips by the elderly holiday trip of five or more days third of Germans’ holidays are ginal short-term changes. Changes suffering from the damages caused. and less trips with children. in 2007. Holiday travelling inten- spent at the Mediterranean Sea, of preference concerning destina- ■ Motives: Constant basic needs, more differentiated and higher sity, i. e. the share of the popula- and the remaining third in the rest tions in conjunction with improved Environmental damage directly or expectations regarding the realization of trips. Relaxation, dis- tion that made at least one trip, lies of the world. While this distribu- accessibility, e.g. via budget indirectly related to tourism is tancing oneself from the daily routine, being free and having time, just under 75 percent, slightly ex- tion has proven very stable over flights, led to an increase in air caused by climate-relevant emis- renewing one’s forces these remain the most central aspects. Con- ceeding the previous year’s the years, developments within travel at the expense of car and es- sions, by the usage of drinking wa- cerning trip realization there are ever more specialized target number and continuing on the these greater areas are quite dy- pecially train use over the course ter, by waste and sewage disposal, audiences. same high level it had already namic – influenced by positive of the last decade. by land consumption and by distur- ■ Clients: Growing competence. Greater experience in travelling reached in the early 1990s. In factors like new travel offers (e.g. bances of flora and fauna, e.g. leads to more competent travellers. comparison, Germany thus is the in Eastern Europe) or improved Verkehrsmittelnutzung through noise exposure or light. In ■ Information: More sources, less depth. With all the choices world’s most travel-eager nation. accessibility (e.g. via budget % 49% addition to the global environmen- around, there is less time to study everything carefully. flights), but also by external influ- 50 47% tal impacts, also the spatial and ■ Destinations: Clear rankings between areas, equal distribution In total, 62.9 million holiday trips ences like diseases (e.g. avian flu), 40 1997 36% 2007 temporal concentration of travelling between specific countries/destinations. The Mediterranean, the were carried out last year. Some political insecurity or weather 32% is ecologically relevant3. Alps, the coasts of North and Baltic Sea are favourite destination Germans thus travel more than extremes.