Traveling to islands can take us to new worlds and allow us to experience completely different ways of life. Escaping to an island can be rejuvenating and inspiring. Yet small island states face great challenges as we enter the middle decades of the 21st century. In a recent annotated review [1], I highlighted a number of challenges, including habitat preservation, pollution issues, and, of course, climate change. Islands are facing some of the greatest climate crisis challenges – from more powerful hurricanes and cyclones to rising sea levels. Exacerbating the...

09 October, 2023 /

Should I travel if my travel contributes to climate change? Tourism certainly contributes to climate change. Air travel in particular generates significant amounts of greenhouse gases. It is important that the industry acts and uses all its influence to change parts of eth tourism system that contribute to the climate crisis. To make significant change requires system change. We need to change our sources of energy from fossil fuels to renewables, we need to improve the energy efficiency of hotels and other buildings, and we need to transition our...

06 January, 2022 /

I declare a climate emergency that is impacting tourism, society, and our home planet. The impacts of climate change on society are becoming more and more clear with each passing day. So too is the influence of climate change on the sustainability of tourism. I am committed to working to ensure tourism is a force for good in our world, and it is clear that climate change intersects with many of the challenges faced by tourism. The challenges of sustainability in the tourism system – environmental issues, preserving biodiversity,...

31 July, 2021 /

What does it look like when climate change starts to impact the tourism system? The conversation about the impacts of climate change on the economy has begun. Often these conversations talk about impacts on a wide range of businesses, but tourism and hospitality are often an important part of the story. This article from American Public Media’s Marketplace "More frequent, extreme heatwaves linked to workplace injuries" is a good example – raising issues around workplace conditions as temperatures increase. Several states – including California, Oregon, and Washington, have implemented new...

28 July, 2021 /

Last week there were massive wildfires, once-in-a-thousand-year floods, and ongoing droughts. The impacts of climate change are evident across the globe. And in each place, tourism will be affected in some way. It almost seems unnecessary to say climate change will impact the tourism system, and any discussion of sustainable tourism needs to consider the impacts of climate change. And it doesn't work to say – "let's deal with one first, then we can get to the other." Climate change and sustainability are inextricably connected. Address climate change, and you...

26 July, 2021 /

Scope Three carbon reporting is gaining importance and suppliers of business travel need to be ready. So what is scope 3 and why is it important? As concern for the climate crisis increases, many corporations are committing to measuring – and reducing – their carbon footprints. The Greenhouse Gases (GHG) that corporations produce are categorized within three “scopes” that are measured - and hopefully the focus of reduction strategies. Scope 1 measures the GHG that the company produces itself as it makes its products and services. Scope 2 measures...

06 July, 2021 /

The challenge of decarbonizing hospitality is one of the great challenges our industry faces. It is important that we consider the actions that will have the greatest impact on our carbon footprint. Unfortunately, the things we talk about most frequently are not the things that have the biggest impact. Here are just a few steps to decarbonizing tourism - the most commonly discussed first, the most impactful last. Green operations: So much of our conversation focuses on improving our energy efficiency and reducing our carbon footprint through our...

30 June, 2021 /

100 days into the pandemic it’s fair to say that the world has changed. While the recovery may have setbacks and restarts, we will move forward. In time, we will get our tourism and hospitality industry workers back on the job, our businesses operating, and our destinations welcoming visitors again. There is a desire by many to rebuild our damaged industry as quickly as possible, recreating it the way it was. But just coming back the same isn’t good enough.  I am encouraged by the chorus of voices calling...

28 June, 2020 /