Climate-conscious travel doesn’t mean giving up travel; it means reimagining and transforming it
Jan 7, 2025
For too long, the tourism industry has focused on individual responsibility to address climate change. While individual actions, such as choosing direct flights, help, they won’t solve the crisis on their own. We need a fundamental shift – new approaches that rethink the supply and demand of travel, likely coming from outside the tourism sector.
Key takeaways
- We are seeing a wave of innovation, many of which were not originally designed with the tourism industry in mind, but which can and will eventually be adapted to it. Once accessible, these technological breakthroughs will transform travel by making greener choices the default, reducing our carbon footprint without blaming the traveler;
- Clean aviation fuels, efficient propulsion systems, next-generation trains, and climate-smart routing software to manage visitor flows-these aren’t just ideas; they’re being developed in labs, startups, and innovative companies today. They promise to reduce emissions without penalizing leisure travelers;
- As these solutions mature, policymakers will need to step in to create incentives, regulate emissions, and promote cleaner travel. With the right policies in place, pilot projects can become industry-wide standards.
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