Tourism professionals’ attitudes towards climate change and their strategies to respond to global warming

Climate change is arguably the most serious environmental issue of our time, and tourism is not just a potential victim of it. Few studies have investigated tourism professionals’ attitudes towards global warming and their strategies to curb it. The University of Applied Sciences Eberswalde and MODUL University Vienna carried out a survey at the Berlin tourism fair (ITB) in 2007 and again in 2008 so as to fill this gap. This year’s findings show that measures to protect the climate or initiate changes in travel behaviour are still poor, as few pragmatic initiatives were identified. Every three out of four interviewees do believe that tourism contributes to global warming. Many of those interviewed mentioned specific measures to curb global warming, namely: energy-efficient technologies, renewable energies, information campaigns and the use of more environmentally friendly means of transportation.

Despite the well-known voluntary carbon offsetting schemes, only a handful of exhibitors said they use them. Knowledge about and awareness of climate change was found to be higher among European tourism professionals, particularly Germans, than among other nationals. However, the respondents’ overall suggestions towards climate protection were rather unclear. Many German tourism professionals believe that climate change will have positive effects on tourism activities in Germany, whereas nationals from other regions shared a more pessimistic view. This year’s findings show only minor differences to the last year’s results. Climate change was a “hot topic” last year, and despite enthusiastic discussions (which were reflected through press coverage) this year, only minor signs of willingness to actively address the issue were uncovered. However, this year’s respondents seem to have a clearer idea of what global warming is about than in the previous year.

It seems that climate protection will now depend upon two main factors: one is the development of sensible solutions to significantly reduce our ecological impact, and second is to convince customers to welcome them. Finally, this study also revealed that substantial information as well as consulting is needed among tourism professionals, particularly among the non-Europeans.

Further reading

• Gössling, S. et al. (2007): Voluntary Carbon Offsetting Schemes for Aviation: Efficiency, Credibility and Sustainable Tourism. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 15, No. 3.
• Gössling, S. and Peeters, P. (2007): ‘It does Not Harm the Environment!’ An Analysis of Industry Discourses on Tourism, Air Travel and the Environment. Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Vol. 15, No. 4.
• WWF (2001): Tourism and Climate Change. WWF International 2001. www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/tourism_and_climate_change.pdf

Contact
Xavier Matteucci, MODUL University Vienna, Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Am Kahlenberg 1, 1190 Wien, Austria
xavier.matteucci@modul.ac.at | www.modul.ac.at

Dagmar Lund-Durlacher, MODUL University Vienna, Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management, Am Kahlenberg 1, 1190 Wien, Austria
dagmar.lund-durlacher@modul.ac.at | www.modul.ac.at