Transport Impact Analysis for Marine Ecotourism

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Transport Impact Analysis for (Marine Eco)tourism

• David M. Bruce

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META- Model
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Marine Ecotourism Responsibility and Self interest

• Marine ecotourism
• depends on the marine eco-system
• seeks to protect and enhance it
• uses edutainment
• has a clear self interest in mitigating climate
  change
• has an important leadership role for other
  tourism.

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Genuinely Sustainable Marine Ecotourism

• To achieve genuinely sustainable marine
  ecotourism, the global level environmental impact
  is also important
• Most impact is by the travel element
  substantially through the greenhouse effect.
• THEREFORE
• - the transport intensity and
• the fossil fuel (carbon) input
• need to be minimised

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Methodology

• Using GUILT (Greenhouse Universal Index for
  Leisure tourism)
• the application of a CO2 Emissions based
  comparative model for different holidays
• examples from Torbay (UK), West Clare (Ireland),
  Gran Canaria (Spain), and competing ecotourism
  destinations
• results are at times counter-intuitive

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META- GUILT Index
Standard MALLORCA
100
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Torbay Origins
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Ireland META- of respondents at Killimer
Canada
USA
Other Europe
Australia
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Canaria flights
17
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General findings

• Planes and cars are the most obvious, most common
  but usually the most harmful forms of transport
  to and within marine ecotourism destinations.
• BUT the car can be, even environmentally,
  efficient
• and planes can be less rather than more
  destructively used.
• Currently taxes provide 'perverse incentives

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Conclusions and Recommendations

• Genuinely sustainable marine ecotourism will
  balance benefits to the (local) ecosystem with
  its global warming cost.
• Responsible marketing will promote
• ecotourism nearer rather than farther from home
• ecotourism to lengthen holiday duration.
• less unsustainable means of transport
• The taxation/support system will help not hinder