Tourism industry to start cutting carbon emissions within a year

23 May, 2007: Leading tourism companies worldwide are trying to agree on ways and means to combat climate change by reducing carbon dioxide emissions from hotels, cruise ships and airliners.

Geoffrey Kent, chairman of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the leading 100 companies in the sector, has said that he expects members to begin implementing some of the measures in about a year.

In an interview with Reuters news agency on the sidelines of an international meeting on environment and tourism, Geoffrey Kent said “it is our responsibility to come up with an overall agreement to follow within our own council of members.”

By the end of 2007, Geoffrey Kent said, the World Travel and Tourism Council will probably come up with some really good and concrete challenges for WTTC members.

The contribution of the tourism sector to the world’s economy is expected to be to the tune of 10.4% in 2007 and would be responsible for 231 million jobs, according to the estimates of the World Travel and Tourism Council.

There is no exact data regarding the volume of carbon emissions that tourism releases into the atmosphere, but the tourism industry depends on construction, airline and sea travel and other activities that are often blamed for climate change.

Geoffrey Kent said that he expected certain measures being taken by the World Travel and Tourism Council to make some tourism companies more cost-efficient. The WTTC members include the hospitality company Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (the United States) and the Intercontinental Hotel Group.

Kent said he believes that climate change will actually make the tourism companies save money and that companies which reduce as much as 40% of carbon emissions would become more energy-efficient and save money.