
The sharp rise in emissions from global tourism can be traced back to only 20 countries, and present strategies to tackle this challenge are falling short.
This is the primary finding of our recent research, published in Nature Communications, which presents the most comprehensive analysis of tourism emissions undertaken to date.
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Discover: How tourism can change to effectively tackle climate change
The study amalgamates various datasets, incorporating information from 175 governments collected over an 11-year period (2009-2020). It applies the UN-approved framework for assessing sustainable tourism and combines tourism spending data with emissions intensity figures from national records.
The findings reveal major challenges in the larger context. The UN Environment Programme highlights that a 42% cut in global emissions is crucial by 2030 (and 57% by 2035). Failure to reach these targets could undermine the Paris Agreement’s objective of keeping global warming within 1.5 degrees.
Notably, emissions from global tourism are increasing at a rate that is double that of the global economy.
Our study demonstrates that from 2009 to 2019, emissions escalated by 40%, rising from 3.7 gigatonnes (7.3% of global emissions) in 2009 to 5.2 gigatonnes (8.8% of global emissions) by 2019.
Though tourism emissions sharply declined in 2020-2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the rebound to pre-pandemic figures has been rapid.
Dramatic growth amid lack of technological solutions
Tourism-related emissions expanded at an annual rate of 3.5% from 2009 to 2019, compared to the overall economic growth rate of 1.5% during the same period. If these trends continue, global tourism emissions could potentially double in the next two decades.
The carbon intensity associated with tourist spending is 30% higher than the global average and four times greater than that of the service sector.
The primary driver of rising emissions is the increasing demand for tourism. The bulk of the expanding carbon footprint stems from aviation (21%), use of petrol and diesel vehicles (17%), and utility services like electricity (16%).
Slow progress in efficiency through technological innovations is being outweighed by this rising demand.
Aviation accounts for half of the direct emissions associated with tourism, exposing its vulnerability as the critical point of global tourism emissions. Despite numerous commitments, the global air transport industry has faced challenges in decarbonizing with new technologies.

20 countries dominate emissions
Our research reveals significant disparities in emissions growth between countries. The United States, China, and India accounted for 60% of the rise in tourism emissions from 2009 to 2019. Collectively, these three nations comprised 39% of global tourism emissions by 2019.
Astoundingly, three-quarters of global tourism emissions are produced by just 20 countries, with the remaining 155 countries contributing the last 25%. Importantly, there now exists a hundred-fold disparity in per-capita tourism footprints between the countries with the highest and lowest travel emissions.
Among the leading 20 emitters, the US (both as a popular destination and through travel by its citizens) recorded the highest tourism carbon footprint in 2019, nearing 1 gigatonne.
This figure represented 19% of the global tourism carbon footprint, increasing at an annual rate of 3.2% over the same period.
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In 2019, the carbon footprint of tourism in the US equated to 3 tonnes per resident, placing it 12th globally among nations with the highest per-capita tourism emissions.
The UK, as a travel destination, ranked 7th worldwide, accounting for 128 megatonnes (2.5% of the total). UK residents produced 2.8 tonnes of emissions per person in 2019, positioning the country 15th globally.
Australia was ranked 14th globally for tourism-related carbon emissions (82 megatonnes), with a per-capita footprint of 3.4 tonnes in 2019 (8th globally). This underscores the substantial emissions associated with long-haul air travel for international trips.
In 2019, New Zealand had a per-capita tourism carbon footprint of 3.1 tonnes per resident (10th globally), similar to Australia, with long-distance international travel being a critical concern.

Image: Getty Images
Four approaches to reduce tourism emissions
This year’s UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP29) marked a historic first for tourism. The UN Tourism acknowledged our findings and recognized that tourism now contributes to 8.8% of total global emissions.
It stated that COP29 represents “a critical moment where ambition meets action, turning vision into commitment that brings about a positive transformation for our planet’s future.”
Nevertheless, our study highlights that the surge in tourism demand, coupled with insufficient improvements in technological efficiency, presents substantial obstacles to reducing tourism-related carbon emissions.
Despite these challenges, we have identified four strategies to stabilize and decrease global tourism emissions:
- Evaluate tourism carbon emissions to identify key areas for action. Our study offers insights into tourism subsectors that significantly contribute to emissions growth, such as aviation, energy supply, and transportation. These sectors should strive for an annual emissions reduction target of 10% by 2050.
- Avoid excessive tourism development and establish sustainable growth limits. National strategies for tourism decarbonization must define and pursue sustainable growth objectives, particularly within the top 20 highest-emitting tourism regions.
- Concentrate on domestic and short-haul markets while limiting long-haul travel. Actively managing demand for air travel is a clear initial measure, possibly involving regulations on long-distance travel demand.
- Tackle disparities between countries by factoring in the social costs of carbon emissions. Regulating the continued rise in long-haul air travel dovetails with fostering a more equitable tourism framework to address these imbalances.
The main objective of our research is to provide policymakers and industry leaders with enhanced insights into tourism’s contribution to global emissions. The next challenge is to develop evidence-based policies and regulations that facilitate swift decarbonization efforts in the tourism sector.
The authors thank Stefan Gössling, Manfred Lenzen, and Futu Faturay for their contributions as part of the research team behind the Nature Communications paper on which this article is based.
James Higham is a professor of tourism at Griffith University, and Ya-Yen Sun is an associate professor at the School of Business at The University of Queensland.
This article has been republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article here.