Twelfth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

International travel has constantly been increasing and will keep on climbing according to worldwide forecasts. It is predicted that by 2035, the tourism and travel industry will remain a major economic generator to many countries, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Increase in tourist arrivals and departures imply more travelling modes either by air or inland. These travelling modes definitely have a negative impact on the environment–mainly emissions of Carbon dioxide (CO2). Tourists who choose destinations such as isolated islands like Mauritius unfortunately have to take long-haul flights. Moreover, for entertaining tourists during their visit on islands, land transportation and related in-land tourism activities inevitably further lead to an additional increase in CO2 emissions. With predicted increases in CO2 emissions, appropriate actions have to be taken. Consequently, this paper is aimed at analysing quantitatively the link between tourism mobility and its contribution to climate change, particularly for the island of Mauritius. The collection of appropriate secondary data from related stakeholders helped to gauge an understanding of the tourism mobility, its associated relationship between CO2 emissions and climate change challenges along with mitigation strategies for Mauritius. The analysis included a systematic time series estimation of the overall CO2 due to air and in-land travel, which demonstrated ultimately the continual increase of CO2 emission in Mauritius owing to tourism mobility. The paper also probed analytically into providing appropriate mitigation measures towards addressing challenges arising from tourism mobility.