A greener tourism sector? Key trends and opportunities.

Dr Hans Bruyninckx, 8 May 2017, Conference on Sustainable Tourism, Valletta.

The European Environment Agency

The European Environment Agency is an EU body that operates at the interface of science and policy. With a network of more than 400 institutions in 39 European countries, the EEA provides timely, reliable and relevant information to support sustainable development. The EEA’s work is targeted at EU institutions, EEA member countries, civil society and the general public.

Europe – 1st tourism destination in the world (2011)

Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), 2011

Inbound tourism by region of destination International Tourist Arrivals, million

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1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030

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Europe – main source of tourists (2011)

Source: World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), 2011

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1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030

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Outbound tourism by region of origin International Tourist Arrivals generated, million

Tourism: a key and growing part of the European economy

The tourism industry directly generates over 5 % of EU GDP - can rise up to 10 %. 2.2 million companies employ 12 million people. 21.5 % of persons employed in the services sector are linked with tourism based activities. (source: Eurostat)

Image credits: from left to right Comrade King, pixabay.com, William Murphy.

Tourism needs a clean and attractive environment

Image credits: ©altournativ.com

Pressures and impacts

Image credits: clockwise from top left: Foundation for Environmental Protection, pixabay.com, IHA Holidays.

Impacts from such growth are significant

Increases in water and land use, food supply, energy consumption and GHG emissions are expected.

Domain Estimated increase over the 2010-2050 period

Energy 164 %

GHG emissions 164 %

Fresh water use 92 %

Land use 189 %

Food consumption 108 %

Source: EEA elaboration from S. Goeesling, P. Peeters, 2015.

The EU policy response

• European tourism policy is mainly focused on boosting competitiveness.

• No specific legislation related to EU tourism and environment related areas.

• References are found across various sectors and legislation - affects collection and availability of data.

The European Environment Agency’s work on tourism

• From 2013: development of a reporting mechanism

from indicators linking tourism and environment.

• Topics include water consumption, biodiversity disturbance, environmental certification schemes, potential for eco-tourism.

• EEA report on tourism due out summer 2017.

EEA Tourism and environment reporting mechanism (TOUERM) indicators DPSIR TOUERM indicators

Drivers D1 - Tourism arrivals D2- Overnights spent at tourism accommodation establishments D3 - Seasonality of tourism D4 - Tourism related modes of transport: number of trips D5 - Tourism related modes of transport (I): Airplane D6 - Tourism related modes of transport (II): Cruises D7 - Most attractive places

Pressures P1 - Tourism density P2 - Tourism intensity P3 - Occupancy rate in tourist accommodation establishments P4- Tourism and leisure pressure on protected areas P5 - Water abstraction by tourism

State S1 - Bathing water quality Impacts I1 - Spatial impact of tourism facilities (I): Golf courses

I2 - Spatial impact of tourism facilities (II): Marina ports I3 - Spatial impact of tourism facilities (III): Ski resorts

Responses R1 - Percentage of destination that is designated for protection R2 - Tourism enterprises using environmental certification / labelling R3 - Blue Flags for beaches and marinas

Tourist arrivals (2014)

Source: Own elaboration from Eurostat, and Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Switzerland, and Turkey national tourism statistics. UK and Belgium data are from 2013.

Percentage of protected areas (2015)

Source: Own elaboration from Common Database on Designated Areas (CDDA) and EEA data. NUTS 2 applied for Belgium, Netherlands, and Germany.

European Charter for Sustainable Tourism awarded parks per country (2016)

Source: Own elaboration from Europarc Federation data

Marina port capacity in the Mediterranean (2015)

Source: Own elaboration based on Plan Bleu, Spanish Yatching Club Association, PortBooker, and EEA data.

No marina data

Share of marina port capacity with Blue Flags (2015)

Source: Own elaboration from Blueflag.global, Plan Bleu, Spanish Yatching Club Association, PortBooker, and EEA data.

Precipitation versus total water use (2016)

Source: EEA, ETC ICM, 2016

Passengers per airport (2013 and change 2009 – 2013)

Source: Own elaboration from Eurostat, EASA, EEA and EUROCONTROL

Cruise passengers (2013 and change 2009 – 2013)

Source: Own elaboration from Eurostat data and MedCruise Statistical Yearbook 2013.

Eco-labelling (2016)

Source: Own elaboration from European Commission’s data 2016

Source: Ecotrans

Environmental management (2016)

Source: Own elaboration from European Commission’s data (2016).

Solutions for individual sectors

Image credits: Clockwise from top left: Edilportale.com, Pixabay.com, Pixabay.com, F. Ceragioli

Hans.Bruyninckx@eea.europa.eu Sign up to receive EEA news, reports and alerts on your areas of interest at http://eea-subscriptions.eu/subscribe eea.europa.eu

Transport, mobility, accessibility: a systemic issue

A “hypermobile” society. Demand for transport in Europe higher than in 2000. By 2050 passenger transport is projected to grow by more than 50 %. Car transport is the dominant mode in world tourism (77 % of all journeys).