Asia Tourism Wants to Finally Tackle a Dangerously Hot Situation
Photo Credit: The Mekong River, a critical lifeline in Southeast Asia, is seeing its lowest levels in a century, the result of controversial dams and severe drought exacerbated by climate change. A view of the river from Chiang Khan, Loei Province, in Thailand. Skift / Xinyi Liang-Pholsena
Skift Take
With the impacts of climate change already upon us, the tourism sector will soon be forced to take aggressive actions to curb its carbon emissions. Because inaction is increasingly not an option.
As the tourism sector has pursued heady growth year after year, the perception of climate change had been that it was a slow-burning issue playing out in the background — like haze, pollution, and many other perennial problems that affect Asia.
Unlike coronavirus and bushfires, with fallouts instantly felt or actions immediately needed from the authorities, climate change mitigation felt like one challenge that could wait. The issue was always there, but the resolve to tackle it was lacking.
That's the wrong thinking, so it’s heartening to hear that more industry players are finally galvanizing into action to reduce tourism’s massive carbon footprint just as the long-simmering emergency is reaching a critical point. The route to emissions cutting has not been a clear-cut one without international standards in place, although experts say that shoul
