Consuming more, faster… a way of life that also applies to our travel habits. Uncontrolled mass tourism causes strong environmental damages such as soil erosion, patrimony degradation, disturbance of the ecosystems, pollution… Long story short, our journeys are a burden for the planet.
In order to travel more sustainably and to reduce our environmental footprint, eco-tourism looks like the best path to take. To do so, everybody can contribute.
A destructive tourism
Hard to consider as a sector on it’s own (such as agriculture for example), tourism covers a multitude of factors: transports, restoration, hotel industry, activities… Even if impacts are hard to track, tourism plays an important part into global warming. A recent study estimates that 8% of worldwide gas emissions (mainly CO2) are due to tourism. To better understand the magnitude of this figure, we can compare it to maritime transport impact, that represents 3% of worldwide CO2 emissions.
This recent study, published on May 7, 2018 in Nature Climate Change magazine, takes into account greenhouse gas emissions from transports and from services consumed by tourists (restoration, hostel, purchase). The study then revealed this alarming figure (8%), three times bigger than the former evaluations: an insane trend that needs to be quickly stopped.
Let’s rethink the way of travelling, toward a sustainable tourism
In order to preserve the littoral, the most valued place for holidays, ecotourism appears as the best alternative.
The concept? To travel without leaving any damaging footprint, enjoying cultural richness of territories. In practice, ecotourism consist in favour an accommodation that is respectful of the environment such as ecological gites. It’s also favouring places guarantor of a good environmental quality, with labels such as “Pavillon Bleu” who insure, among other things, a good quality of bathing waters. Ecotourism also means choosing soft transports, avoiding touristic infrastructures or hotel complexes and opt for activities that respect the fauna and flora. For a sustainable tourism, consumption trends have to be deeply changed and refocus on cultural getaways.
Every actor concerned
The number of tourists reached a record in 2017: 1.3 billion holidaymakers. If the economy benefits from this touristic massification, the littoral suffers from this demographic pressure and is exposed to many risks: erosion, pollution and rising waters …
Regarding these issues, every member of the touristic chain have to take action: customers, local authorities and governments have to address the situation as matter of emergency and take part into sustainable tourism strategies. For example, throughout 2018, the European Union values the importance of cultural patrimony. This initiative is the occasion to celebrate patrimony richness and to sensitize citizens about the necessity to preserve it. Surfrider also consults citizens about the thematic of sustainable tourism as part of it’s campaign called Voice for the Ocean. Toward next european elections in 2019, Surfrider wishes to know the opinion and expectations of citizens about these new challenges. You can give your voice to the ocean, let’s do it!
Mass tourism is nowadays questioned because of its ecological footprint. To travel in keeping with environmental respect, it’s crucial to rethink our habits and to promote cultural patrimony. It’s a matter of emergency for our planet to learn how to enjoy ressources without exhausting them mercilessly.
