Tourism and environmental quality – economic, social and ecological interdependencies

How does intensive tourism development affect the quality of the environment in the short and long term? Turkish researchers attempted to answer this question in a study of the impact of socioeconomic factors in tourism-dependent countries. The conclusions are unequivocal.

When tourism is an economic asset

In a study published in the journal Sustainability in April, Turkish researchers analyzed data from 24 countries whose economies depend heavily on tourism. They included such famous vacation destinations as the Bahamas, Maldives, Seychelles, Cambodia, Croatia, Malta and Iceland. The data comes from the World Bank database and covers the last two decades (2000-2022), a period of intense changes in greenhouse gas emissions. A common feature of all the countries analyzed is a relatively small population and at least 25 percent share of tourism in GDP.

Advanced econometric tools were used to analyze selected social, economic and ecological factors to estimate interdependencies, both in the short and long term. This ambitious approach provides interesting conclusions for tourism development strategies, while emphasizing environmental quality as a priority value.

Basic relationship between emissions, economic development and tourism

The Turkish analysis focused on comparing variables such as population size and life expectancy in each country, energy intensity (a.k.a. energy consumption per productive output), economic development and environmental quality. The latter was estimated by looking at the level of greenhouse gas emissions, so it does not necessarily exhaust all aspects of tourism’s impact.

The basic relationships between the above social, economic and environmental variables have been determined based on the available scientific literature. It shows, for example, that in Brazil, China, Thailand and Kuwait, tourism is associated with a marked increase in greenhouse gas emissions. On the other hand, there are studies showing the exact opposite relationship – in many countries, such as Malaysia, the growth of the tourism sector has had a positive impact on environmental quality.

The relationship between economic development and the state of the environment also seems rather interesting. Well, preliminary observations show that initially intensive economic development, which happens to be the result of the development of the tourism sector, has a negative impact on regional nature. After crossing a certain threshold and increasing the income of residents, this relationship reverses, and further economic development begins to have a positive impact on the quality of the environment.

Results of econometric analysis

In order to obtain a more comprehensive model of economic, social and ecological dependencies in countries dependent on income from tourism, the acquired data were subjected to strictly econometric analysis based on RALS and ARDL models. What was found?

In the long term, population growth, energy intensity and tourism clearly increase overall greenhouse gas emissions. However, the life expectancy of citizens and economic development do not seem to have a statistically significant effect on emissions. In the short term, on the other hand, the relationship is somewhat different – energy intensity, economic development, life expectancy and population size reduce environmental quality, but tourism is not econometrically significant.

In a nutshell: the impact that tourism has on the environment changes over time and may be downplayed at first, only revealing itself years later.

How to take care of environmental quality in countries with high tourism potential?

The socio-economic and ecological dependency models developed allowed the study’s authors to formulate a number of recommendations for governments of countries economically dependent on tourism. The most important of these is the need to integrate sustainable development goals into tourism sector activities as soon as possible.

In particular, it is recommended:

• Expanding incentives for owners of hotels, restaurants and other tourism organizations to reduce their dependence on dirty energy sources;
• Introducing long-term loans for the transition from fossil fuels to green energy;
• Tax reductions for business owners who invest in sustainable energy production and implement energy-saving systems.

The need to closely monitor the migration of citizens from rural areas to cities was also considered crucial. In this context, it is very important to support the development of ecotourism in low-urbanized regions, which will create new jobs, limiting the flight to metropolitan areas.

Governments in countries with high tourism potential can also implement precisely defined regulations on environmental standards. In locations where tourism has an unequivocally negative impact on the quality of the environment, sufficiently large funds should be allocated for the protection and restoration of ecological assets. It is also very important to make energy efficiency a priority, which can be realized especially through improved production methods and the use of renewable energy sources.

Tourism as a global force

Tourism development can promote the economic, social and environmental well-being of people and places, as long as it is conducted responsibly. According to the Economic Impact of Travel and Tourism 2023 report released by the World Travel and Tourism Council, the entire sector is responsible for 7.6 percent of global economic growth. It generated 22 million new jobs in 2022 alone.

On the other hand, international travel and its associated_CO2 emissions contribute significantly to exacerbating climate change. The World Tourism Organization (WTO) stresses that transportation is responsible for 75 percent of the emissions generated by tourism.

Thus, the biggest contemporary challenge seems to be mitigating the negative effects of travel and infrastructure while enhancing the positive social and economic importance of tourism.