Wildlife is at risk from covid-19 1:47
(CNN) -
Let's go back to a different time.
One that feels far away.
Early January 2020.
Travelers were gearing up for another booming year of adventure, from visits to Japan for the Olympics to cruises galore.
But as we point to another year of distant travel, environmental activists continue their warnings of a growing climate catastrophe and the role travelers were playing.
Some people had been heeding their calls and trying to plan more sustainable trips.
Tips from CNN Travel and elsewhere on how to travel sustainably were popular then.
But for the most part, the travel projections were more of the same.
We couldn't allow issues like emissions and excessive tourism to keep us home - we had a world to see in 2020!
Meanwhile, a new and different kind of threat, one that couldn't be put aside so easily, was about to unleash.
Reports were being published about a new and mysterious virus inside China.
It wasn't SARS.
It had infected dozens of people.
But what was it?
The destinations that have promised to fight against excess tourism in 2020
Two people die in China from a new virus 0:26
We had no idea that our world and the travel industry were about to be changed by this threat.
An eerie silence
Almost in the blink of an eye, everything changed because of that new virus.
It swept the world.
Countries closed their borders.
The Summer Olympics were postponed.
Cruise ships desperately searched for ports to drop off passengers.
The airports were almost empty.
The spas were deserted.
Amusement parks turned into ghost towns.
Covid-19 and coronavirus soon became household words.
So we noticed something quite nice - a kind of ray of light - during the spring lockdown orders.
Venice devastated by the coronavirus 2:06
In normally polluted cities like Los Angeles, the skies were clearer.
So was the water: people could see marine life in Venice's normally turgid and crowded canals.
To our delight, the song of the birds became easier to hear.
There seemed to be a cause and effect to it that raised many questions.
Was there really an environmental benefit to the sudden drop in global travel?
Are there ways to keep the perceived benefits if the virus is under control?
And perhaps most importantly: can we one day roam the world again but be better stewards of our planet while we do it?
As with everything else related to the pandemic, the answers are difficult and complicated.
Emissions and carbon footprint
One seemingly small statistic had a lot to say about tourism and its effect on the environment before the pandemic: 8%.
That's what tourism contributed to global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a pioneering study by researchers from the University of Sydney and the University of Queensland Australia in May 2018 (greenhouse gas emissions trap heat in atmosphere and cause the planet to heat up rapidly).
That was four times higher than previously estimated.
And most of this carbon footprint - the total amount of greenhouse gases we generate from our actions - came from high-income countries.
The study also found that the rapid increase in tourism demand was "effectively outpacing" the technological improvements the industry was making to reduce its carbon footprint.
The study also did not have a positive outlook for the future.
"We project that due to its high carbon intensity and continued growth, tourism will account for a growing share of the world's greenhouse gas emissions."
Tourism's carbon footprint is four times greater than previously believed, according to study
Everything goes out the window
No one knew in 2018 that we would have a coronavirus pandemic that would make history in 2020. That threw everything out the window about where we thought we would be.
Quarantines and closures caused an unprecedented slowdown in the air transport and tourism industries, according to a July 2020 study by the University of Sydney, which found that total global emissions fell by 4.6%.
That is the biggest drop in history.
But while the environment broke down, the world economy crashed.
Transport and tourism have been the sectors most affected, according to the study.
Arunima Malik, from the School of Business and Physics at the University of Sydney and one of the study's authors put it this way: “We are experiencing the worst economic shock since the Great Depression, while at the same time we have experienced the greatest economic shock. drop in greenhouse gas emissions since the burning of fossil fuels began ”.
Covid-19 continues to sink airlines around the world 3:03
Small countries hit hard
Ya-Yen Sun, Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland Australia Business School and another author of the studies, told CNN Travel that countries that rely heavily on tourism have been devastated.
“We know that tourism is one of the largest [economic] sectors in the world.
It contributes around 10% of the world's GDP and one in 10 jobs is related to tourism, ”said Sun.
Places like the Maldives have their highest income from tourism. (CNN)
Smaller nations that do not have diversified economies have taken the hardest hits.
Sun said that tourism accounts for more than half of the national GDP in places like Macau, Aruba and the Maldives.
Sun also noted that many tourism jobs are offered to women, youth and low-income people.
When the world suddenly stopped traveling, "these underprivileged people lost their jobs, their income… We are very concerned about these bosses."
And all this apparently puts us on the horns of a dilemma in which tourism and employment or the environment and our health come out on the losing side.
As Malik noted in the study, previous financial shocks showed that without structural change, the environmental benefits we are seeing now are unlikely to be sustained during a recovery.
"There are no simple answers"
Is there any hope?
Can the tourism industry and economies recover but keep the environmental impact low?
"The problem, of course, is that there are no easy answers," said Jennie Germann Molz, professor of sociology and anthropology at the College of the Holy Cross in Worchester, Massachusetts.
"Many tourist destinations have turned over such a large part of their economy to the tourist infrastructure that they depend on it."
But can we reactivate tourism in a cleaner way?
Take the airlines, for example.
Technological innovations are being made to reduce the environmental impact of the industry.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are studying ways to modify emissions of nitrogen oxides, which they say is the worst culprit.
A study from Imperial College London looks at how changing the altitude of planes could help eradicate contrails.
And Delta Air Lines plans to become carbon neutral over the next decade by buying offsets and investing in tree planting programs.
But Sun told CNN Travel that these efforts so far have not been able to make up for the voracious demand, at least before the pandemic.
"We always thought that technology could offset certain levels of our consumption, [but] basically, technology really doesn't help much," Sun said.
"Although aircraft are becoming more energy efficient, they have to operate more frequently."
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Travel by train
Amtrak serves popular destinations like New Orleans and allows you to travel with a smaller carbon footprint. (Marnie Hunter / CNN)
Peter Miller, a scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, said flying is one of the worst forms of travel from a carbon emissions standpoint.
"If you're going between Washington DC and New York, and you have the option to travel, taking that short-haul flight is the worst of the three options," he said in a CNN Business article.
“Driving is not so bad, especially if you have a car that saves fuel.
The train will generally be the best.
But why focus on aviation when it accounts for only 2% of global greenhouse gas emissions?
Sun's response is, "I think the important thing is the annual growth rate, which is now 5%."
'People tend to travel more frequently.
And the other thing we identify is that people tend to travel to a distant destination.
They want to travel further.
You have to rely on aviation, which is the elephant in the room, ”he said.
Malik added: “There is no easy solution to this.
And whatever strategy we implement, I think we must take into account the economic, social and environmental aspects of things.
But again, there is no silver bullet.
The cruise industry
Before the pandemic, more and more eyes were also looking towards the growing cruise industry and its effects on the environment.
Polluted air offshore 0:28
Just one example: a report published in 2019 by the sustainable travel group Transport & Environment said that large ships had a large environmental effect compared to cars.
He said that over the course of 2017, Carnival Corporation, a cruise operator spanning 10 cruise line brands, emitted nearly 10 times more sulfur oxide off European shores than 260 million European cars.
The cruise industry responds that it is exploring new technologies to leave less pollution in its wake.
Carnival said in 2020 it was working to reduce emissions by having "the world's second cruise ship to run on liquefied natural gas both at sea and in port," as well as investing in battery and fuel cell technology.
Norwegian cruise company Hurtigruten said in 2019 that it was switching to hybrid cruises as part of a mission to reduce the company's environmental impact.
The International Association of Cruise Lines said in 2019 that the industry is investing in onboard wastewater treatment plants and high-tech coatings and hull designs to reduce water resistance and save fuel.
It also pledged to have up to 25 liquefied natural gas-powered ships in operation by 2030.
Meanwhile, ships in some parts of the world are returning to the business of transporting passengers, with precautions to prevent the spread of covid-19.
Environmentalists are sure to keep a close eye on their emissions numbers when they start to back off.
Top Five Cruises for 2019 1:54
Should we stop flying and sailing?
The short answer from Bruce Poon Tip, founder of Toronto, Canada-based small group travel company G Adventures is NO.
"I think traveling is a great gift to the world," Poon Tip told CNN Travel.
"I think there are better ways that we can do it safely ... either by capturing carbon or by using some kind of alternative fossil fuel for electric flights or planes."
Sun offered other ideas.
He noted that some governments have offered financial assistance to struggling airlines since the pandemic hit.
She thinks that could come with promises from companies "to make good progress in reducing carbon emissions."
Sun also emphasizes approaches beyond reducing emissions at source.
"The best alternative is not asking the airline to cut emissions, but rather a consumer-driven strategy that shifts to other ground transportation," Sun said.
"So instead of flying, the best option is to go by bus, train, or even your own car."
It also echoed Poon Tip's thoughts about not eliminating flights entirely, especially to remote destinations, but making better use of the miles we fly.
“We can reduce our carbon emissions once we reach that destination.
A good way is to choose a particular destination per trip instead of traveling to several places.
More ways to reduce our carbon footprint
Ronan O'Connell / CNN
Sun also pointed to the carbon footprint of food production.
He said we could consider more vegetarian meals on trips as meat production is harsher on the environment.
"The other thing we can do is buy something made locally."
A study published on July 10 by Stefan Gössling of Lund University in Sweden and James Higham of the University of Otago in New Zealand offered further suggestions and an alarm, saying the world has "30 years to decarbonize its economy."
The report defends the development of national tourism markets, something that the covid-19 has really advanced.
He also notes that the UK has introduced "significant tariffs on air passengers" and suggests that more governments consider carbon taxes, which could help create longer stays.
Overturism: Too good
When emissions and pollution problems are encountered, the scourge of over-tourism is often encountered.
Amsterdam presents project to reduce mass tourism
Amsterdam raises its tourist tax 0:45
From dense urban centers like Amsterdam to isolated historic sites like Machu Picchu, destinations struggled to be too popular before the pandemic.
"Tourism academics have been sounding the alarm about the environmental and cultural impact of mass tourism for decades, but in recent years, it has increased to the point that we have been talking about in terms of over-tourism," said Molz de Santa Cross.
"Therefore, destinations are pushed beyond their capacity to receive visitors, to the point that the reason why tourists want to go to these places is lost in the hustle and bustle."
In the pandemic, Amsterdam residents took back their city.
But it came with loss of income and the cost of the pandemic to health and life.
Can we find the sweet spot?
Along with Venice, Dubrovnik, Bangkok and many other tourist destinations, Amsterdam is thinking of ways to get there with too few tourists and too many.
'I think it will take quite a strong political will to do it.
Amsterdam is always at the forefront of these innovations, ”said Molz.
"And I think they are trying to implement policies to encourage local residents to return to the city center and to the kinds of economies that support local residential life as opposed to tourist life."
Molz also promotes other forms of travel, investing in "youth and student exchange programs, which tend to be low-impact."
She also likes the senior hostel or other exchanges "where it's not just about going to town for weekend getaways."
"In terms of sustainability, these kinds of exchanges are low-impact," he said.
"The longer you can stay in a place ... the more meaningful the experience will be for the tourist."
Case Study: Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik has had to carefully manage the cruise ships in and out of the city.
The coastal city of Dubrovnik, Croatia, is called the "Jewel of the Adriatic" and is where some scenes from the television series "Game of Thrones" were shot.
It is also a case study of a city that has grappled with the pros and cons of being a highly regarded destination.
Jelka Tepšić, the deputy mayor of Dubrovnik, told CNN Travel how they have been coming to terms with the situation.
The management of cruise arrivals has been a key element.
In 2019, the city signed a "memorandum of understanding" with the International Association of Cruise Lines to better schedule ships entering and leaving large groups of travelers at the same time.
The pandemic naturally put an end to all of that.
But in "normal times", Tepšić said that it is not possible to have more than two cruise ships or 4,000 passengers at the same time in port.
And that makes it a better experience for passengers and residents of the city.
He said the city is also focusing on more national and regional travel, hoping to attract more of its fellow Croats, as well as neighbors from Montenegro, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia and Slovenia.
That fits in with the "travel bubble" concept that has emerged during the pandemic, although it remains to be seen how well that concept will work.
The city is trying to ease its dependence on tourism by courting IT companies and more filming, he said.
And it is promoting ecological activities beyond its old walls.
“You can easily walk if you prefer hiking, for example.
There are islands in the vicinity and there are some areas that have not yet been discovered, ”said Tepšić.
Trips that make a difference
Bruce Poon Tip urges travelers to relax and try to make more practical human connections.
G Adventures founder Poon Tip longs to travel, but on new terms.
“I want people to be free from worry again.
Let them travel again.
But I don't necessarily think we should fight to get back to normal as an industry, "said Poon Tip.
"I think the travel industry was in a very dangerous place just before the pandemic where the destination was no longer relevant."
He saw a situation less related to human connections and more to luxury and energy-consuming glare.
“People booked trips because of the amenities.
So tour operators were in a race to offer more and more amenities for people… Broadway shows, indoor zip line, carousels, go-kart races, 10 different restaurants to choose from each night.
All these things became so critical that fate became irrelevant.
Poon Tip said you can travel and help local economies, the working poor and still be a friend of the environment.
For example, he suggested staying in local, family hotels rather than big chains.
And she said: go out to eat at different places with locally sourced foods instead of just dining in an all-inclusive package.
“We have the opportunity to rethink, because now that we are forced to start traveling slowly again and we have to respect social distancing, we cannot just crowd people overnight.
Everything has to be gradual, ”he said.
We have a chance to say, wait a second.
Venice can be beautiful.
We can still have thousands of tourists in Venice, but we cannot have hundreds of thousands of tourists in Venice.
We have to regulate it in some way.
Poon Tip is hopeful for the future.
“I'm having conversations with cruise and airline CEOs who never would have cared that I existed before, but… those dialogues are happening now.
And it's very exciting.
Terrible as it may have been, the pandemic has brought global tourism to the crossroads of opportunity, where there is a new opportunity to take the path it treasures rather than rip apart the planet.
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