Tourism growth has outpaced that of the global economy, with revenues nearly doubling in a decade, from $3.5 trillion in 2009 to $6 trillion in 2019, representing an annual growth rate of 5. 5%, according to this study.
This consumption is associated with a tourism carbon footprint of 5.2 gigatons (Gt) of CO2 equivalent in 2019. This is distributed between direct emissions which amounted to 1.8 Gt (52% coming from aviation , 18% from road transport), indirect emissions which represented 2.5 Gt (34% from services, 14% from oil production) and emissions from private vehicles (0.9 Gt).
Limit the growth in demand for air transport
In total, global tourism in 2019 was responsible for “8.8% of global anthropogenic warming,” according to the study. “Between 2009 and 2019, emissions from the sector increased by 1.5 Gt of CO2 equivalent, which is equivalent to the annual emissions produced by all of Latin America and the Caribbean,” estimate the authors of the report.
Tourism's carbon footprint has expanded at a rate (3.5% per year) twice that of the global economy (1.5% per year). Tourists from the United States alone accounted for 19% of the total global tourism footprint in 2019, with Chinese 15% and Indians 6%. However, to achieve the objective of limiting global warming to +1.5°C as provided for in the Paris Agreement, the 5.2 Gt of greenhouse gas emissions from the sector would have to be reduced by more than 10% per year until 2050.
