By Sarah Currie-Halpern, Co-Founder and Partner
Tourism is a waste-heavy and environmentally unfriendly industry no matter how you slice it. It’s responsible for roughly 8% of global carbon emissions, primarily through its high reliance on air travel. Hotels and other lodging options use huge amounts of energy and plastic—just imagine the consumption and waste from the constant air conditioning and the tiny shampoo bottles alone.
It doesn’t end at the accommodation, either. Tourist-related infrastructure like airports and golf courses strain water supply and destroy soil and natural carbon sinks. This is only amplified on remote island destinations, which often have fragile ecosystems and depend on imports to sustain their tourist infrastructure.
Eco-tourism and nature-oriented tourism is on the rise, with travelers choosing to engage in conservation projects as part of their trips. Still, greater change is needed to mitigate the waste and carbon emissions created by this trillion-dollar industry. Eco-tourism alone can’t mitigate the problems of non-eco-tourism.
What might waste-conscious tourism look like, and how can cities that depend on tourism make the necessary changes? Interestingly enough, 2024 has been a watershed year for cities around the world answering those questions in their own individual ways. Here are three ongoing success stories from three vastly different destinations setting new standards for green tourism.
Las Vegas bets big on renewable energy
For all its vices, Sin City has been fighting the good green fight for years. In 2009, the city invested $75 million in sustainability projects with a particular emphasis on solar power. Second only to Honolulu in solar capacity per capita in the U.S., Vegas uses 320 days of sunshine a year to power resorts on the Strip, all of which are required to meet a citywide standard of deriving no less than 40% of its energy from renewable sources. (Many are even exceeding this!) On top of that, some 97% of water used is recycled, making for a sustainability success story in the unlikeliest of places.
Copenhagen rewards tourists for conscious decisions
Copenhagen—a city already world-renowned for its exceptional waste reduction and environmental preservation efforts—has brought tourists into the fold in its larger sustainability campaign. This summer, it ran its first trial of CopenPay, a program designed to reward visitors for climate-friendly actions. Participants could earn museum tickets, boat rentals, and free drinks and meals at restaurants by collecting trash, taking public transit, or riding a bike. In other words, incentivize tourists through the attractions and experiences they’re already seeking, and they’ll happily do what it takes to earn them.
Singapore takes a holistic approach
Singapore has gone all-in on sustainable tourism, becoming the world’s first entire country to be certified by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council in 2023. It achieved this by pursuing its ambitious Green Plan 2030, which is responsible for the development of infrastructure and conservation projects attractive and beneficial to tourists and locals alike. It includes the building of new transit lines and stations, a 20% reduction of waste sent to the landfill, and an increase in nature parks’ land area by over 50%. Meanwhile, the Singapore Tourism Board has created comprehensive roadmaps and education initiatives for tourism-related businesses to better manage waste, water, energy and carbon emissions.
Reducing waste and energy consumption might begin at home, but we can’t afford to keep it there. Mitigating tourism’s adverse environmental effects is a joint project between destinations and travelers, and it’s not a one-size-fits-all program. What works in Norway can’t just be copy-and-pasted onto Nigeria or Nicaragua. But individualized, workable programs will make a real difference. Best of all, they’ll benefit locals too, and make sure destinations are places worth coming back to again and again.
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