Between October 1st and 3rd, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Swiss Government will be holding the Second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism in Davos, Switzerland to address “the global challenge of climate change and action by the tourism sector in both adaptation of destinations and mitigation of its own impacts”. As the travel and tourism industry totaled 846 million international arrivals and 4 billion domestic trips in 2006, it is important that the people in charge are responsible and aware of the damage they are causing to the environment. Although the travel and tourism industry does contribute a lot of greenhouse gas emissions, it is also highly susceptible to the effects of climate change. These two contrasting problems are central to the issue of climate change with the carbon dioxide emissions of the travel and tourism sector accounting for between 4 and 6% of total emissions, yet “changing climate patterns might alter major tourism flows”. It is a thorny issue to tackle but at least there are people who are trying to make some change!
Archive for September, 2007
What is the impact of tourism on global warming?
September 29th, 2007Golf tourism?
September 11th, 2007The Northern Irish Tourism Minister Nigel Dodds yesterday told reporters about his plan for golf tourism for Northern Ireland. He aims to attract the 60 million golfers worldwide to Northern Ireland on holiday. Apparently “statistics show that every £1 spent by a golfer is worth £15 to the local economy”. Also golfers care less about what the weather is like so they will still play even if it’s cold and raining. According to Tom McGrath, Chairman of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, golf tourism is so important for the economy because “golf visits to Northern Ireland (rose) by 58% between 2003 and 2006”. Now I think this is an amazing idea. I know many people who go on holiday just to play golf, and Northern Ireland has some amazing scenery so I can see it working quite well! This is also an opportunity for Northern Ireland to raise it’s profile in the world considering its recent history.