An analysis of 27 studies with data from over 147,000 travelers, conducted by the universities of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) and Innsbruck (Austria), reveals a gap between tourists' willingness to offset carbon emissions and the payments they make, leading them to recommend policies to make it mandatory.
Researchers from the Department of Applied Economic Analysis at ULPGC and the Department of Public Finance at the University of Innsbruck (Austria) stated in a press release this Monday that this gap "is large enough to recommend the adoption of firm policies, such as environmental taxes or opt-out systems."
One of the ULPGC researchers, Jaime Blázquez Valerón, explained that "many tourists say they are concerned about sustainability and climate change, but very few actually offset the emissions from their trips."
"Our study shows that voluntary initiatives help raise awareness, although more ambitious policies are also needed, such as well-designed environmental taxes, for tourism to truly contribute to reducing emissions," he added.
The researchers' interest stems from the impact of tourism on greenhouse gas emissions and the increasing implementation of voluntary offsetting programs that allow tourists to pay an amount as compensation for the emissions generated during their travel and at their destination.
The work, motivated by the disparity between what tourists declare and what is collected for this purpose, has a global perspective, as it includes studies from all continents.
"Clearly quantifying the distance between intention and actual action provides an empirical and data-driven basis for designing public policies aimed at offsetting emissions," they indicated in the press release.
Furthermore, they pointed out that this has "critical importance in a region like the Canary Islands, which is so highly dependent on tourism and vulnerable to climate change, among whose causes are carbon emissions."
The results of this study have been published in the journal Tourism Review.
