Climate scientists from University of Sydney in Australia say tourism causes over 8 per cent of greenhouse gasses. They also say that this figure will continue to increase because tourism industry is growing. Their study looked at carbon footprint of many different areas of tourism. It studied CO2 emissions from transport, events, hotels, restaurants and shopping. It even researched carbon emissions from producing souvenirs. researchers spent 18 months conducting research. They included tourist activities of 189 countries. Researcher Dr Arunima Malik said her team analyzed impact on environment of over one million businesses involved in tourism.
researchers said domestic travel was bigger cause of CO2 emissions than international or business travel. Air travel was largest part of tourism's footprint. researchers said flying would continue to increase global emissions as more people in world become richer. The countries causing most harm were the biggest and richest nations. USA, China, India and Germany had largest tourism carbon footprints. Their carbon emissions will continue to increase as more of their citizens travel. researchers encouraged holiday-makers and travelers to try and reduce their carbon footprint when on vacation so their travel causes less harm to planet.
