The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has released new environmental footprint data at its 24th Global Summit, which is currently taking place in Perth, Australia.
The latest Environmental & Social Research (ESR), developed in partnership with the Ministry of Tourism of Saudi Arabia, shows a significant reduction in the travel and tourism sector's contribution to global emissions.
According to the report, travel and tourism accounted for 6.7% of global emissions in 2023, down from 7.8% in 2019. This decrease occurred despite the sector's economic contribution nearly returning to pre-pandemic levels, with US$9.9 trillion contributed to global GDP in 2023, just 4% below the sector's peak.
The data also indicates that the sector's growth is becoming more environmentally sustainable. While travel and tourism's economic contribution has almost recovered, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were 12% below the 2019 peak. GHG intensity, measured as emissions per unit of GDP, fell by 8.4% during this period.
"Our sector is proving that we can grow responsibly," said Julia Simpson, President & CEO of WTTc. "We're decoupling growth from emissions — Travel & Tourism is expanding economically, while lowering its environmental footprint."
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.
However, Simpson emphasized the need for continued progress, adding, "While we are decoupling our sector's growth from the increase in GHG, our aim is absolute reductions. We must accelerate this progress significantly to meet the Paris climate targets."
The report also highlighted changes in the sector's energy sources. Reliance on fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas) decreased from 90% in 2019 to 88.2% in 2023. Correspondingly, the share of low-carbon energy sources (nuclear and renewables) increased from 5.1% to 5.9% over the same period.
The research also revealed that travel and tourism contributed $3.32 trillion in direct tax revenues globally in 2023, representing 9.6% of total global tax revenues.
WTTC noted that due to new data and methodological improvements, the sector's share of all GHG emissions in 2019 has been revised from 8.1% to 7.8% in this latest update.
Editor's Note: This article was generated by AI and based on a press release distributed by WTTC. It was reviewed by a TravelAge West editor.
