Tourism In The Green Economy

The concept of the green economy has now entered mainstream policy debates and been endorsed by a range of United Nations and other organizations. The Rio+20 UN conference specifically drew attention to the green economy approach in the context of sustainable development to move away from business-as-usual practices, act to end poverty, address environmental destruction and build a bridge to the sustainable future. It is increasingly recognized that the tourism sector can make a major contribution to the green economy through more sustainable practices, climate change mitigation and ecotourism. The role of tourism sector will continue to be crucial in the post-2015 sustainable development agenda too. However, there are ambiguities about how tourism and allied industries can maximize their contribution to human well-being and ensure environmentally sustainability, embracing issues of political economy, geography and business ethics. In this context, this book provides consensus about what the green economy entails, what role tourism can play in a green economy, early responses from many countries, on-going and emerging research initiatives that will enable tourism’s transition to a green economy. The chapters address three key themes: understanding the Green Economy concept and the role of tourism; responses and initiatives in greening tourism; and emerging techniques and research implications. A wide range of case studies from around the world and in different contexts is included to demonstrate the extent of the challenge and range of opportunities for the tourism industry.

The Tourism Background Report is an extended version of the Tourism Chapter of the Green Economy Report (GER), which makes the case for investments in greener and sustainable tourism as a means to create jobs and reduce poverty while also improving environmental outcomes. The Report analyses the main variables that influence tourism development and aims to demonstrate that concerted "greener" policies can steer the growth of the sector toward a more sustainable path. Compared with a "business-as-usual" scenario, it shows how a green investment scenario would allow the sector to continue to expand steadily over the coming decades while ensuring significant environmental benefits such as reductions in water consumption, energy use and CO2 emissions. The Report aims at encouraging policy makers to support increased investment in greening the tourism sector.

The green growth paradigm emerged from evolving global strategies that coherently promote a more socially inclusive, low-carbon, resource-efficient, stable economy, with decreasing poverty. Opportunities and challenges associated with the paradigm shift are expected to transform the travel and tourism (travelism) sector in all respects and on a global scale. This involves the transformation of the entire travelism value chain, as well as the communities in tourism destinations. However, there is a lack of systematic reports on wide-ranging and complex implications of the green growth paradigm for the travelism sector. This book focuses on the twin pillars – green growth and travelism – as key building blocks in exploring an essential multi-decade lifestyle change for planetary and human well-being, through the lenses of concept, policy and practice. It provides a conceptual discussion of the implications of the new development trend for key players in the travelism system, offers case studies from both developed and developing countries that highlight key issues in the transformation towards the green economy, and explores the policy settings and frameworks on both the global and national levels that underpin travelism green growth. This book offers tourism industry players, academics, students, policy makers and practitioners a comprehensive discussion of the latest progress in green growth and travelism.

This book bridges the gap between the vital issues of the tourism industry, practices and destinations, discussing various topics from Asian and African perspectives. Each chapter presents extensive research on tourism development and tourism education, people’s work and travel experiences, as well as broader philosophies concerning the global tourism industry’s practices and operations. In the context of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 8, 12 and 14, the book highlights the potential of tourism to contribute to economic growth, social inclusion and environmental preservation. It discusses crucial issues confronting the travel and tourism industry, presenting achievable outlines and strategy plans, and evaluating general theories, practices, and applications of social, economic and environmental aspects of management structure to maximize the cultural, social and ecological diversity of destinations and enhance the tourism experience. Providing a comprehensive guide to tourism and its related disciplines, it offers students, professors, entrepreneurs, and travel and tourism organizations insights into the trends, practices. Further, it features case studies ranging from historical and contemporary tourism to forecasts for future tourism.

Written by 18 authors, this book on Sustainability, Climate Change and the Green Economy brings together insights at the nexus of the four key concepts embedded in its title. The book is unpacked in six parts. Part 1 is a single chapter that covers the context of the topic. Part 2 looks at the green economy and green jobs, and addresses the challenges of government coordination and socio-economic development, with emphasis on skills and immigration regimes. Part 3 reflects on sustainable development, with a focus on relearning our wants and needs, and provides critical reflection on engineering for sustainable development. Management of natural resources and wetlands makes up Part 4, which teases out issues on timber harvesting, as well as challenges and opportunities in addressing environment-economic development and growth conflicts. A critique of climate change coverage in news media, mainstreaming climate change into wildlife policies, and tourism, are matters covered in Part 5. The last part (Part 6) is another single chapter, which articulates emerging issues from the whole book and presents some policy and take-home messages. Given the growing literature in the field of sustainability, climate change and the green economy, this piece will prove a must-read for policy makers, academics, industry and civil society.

This book explores why the industry is misperceived and how it can take its rightful leadership place in the transformation to the new green economy. It looks practically into these issues by taking the views of 46 government, industry and civil society thought leaders on the challenges, opportunities and solutions.

This book presents a multidisciplinary approach to the Western Balkans, addressing topics from the green image of a country, sustainable waste management, the way in which SMEs develop green entrepreneurship, sustainability in tourism and trade, green consumerism, energy efficiency, and conservation projects.