Sustainable Tourism: Facts & Figures
Facts and figures on sustainable tourism and the market are scattered. We've pulled together some of the key statistics.
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For more statistics, visit our Research News section.
- A recent poll by responsibletravel.com suggested that Scotland was the leading eco tourism destination in Europe
- 92% of Scotland’s visitors rank scenery as an important factor when choosing Scotland as a holiday destination. Source: The Visitor Experience 2007, Harris Interactive
- 80% of visitors to Scotland feel that Scotland protects and cares for its natural environment. 40% feel that their holiday decisions are affected by environmental concerns. Source: The Visitor Experience 2007, Harris Interactive
- 80% of UK tourists are prepared to pay an extra £30-£70 per night to stay in an environmentally-friendly hotel.
- 90% of UK tourists consider it the hotel’s responsibility to actively protect and support the environment
- Global warming scored 4.6 out of 7 in a survey of 1200 UK adults on a scale of 1-7 (where 1 is not worried at all and 7 is extremely worried). In the same survey ,56% said they were extremely or very concerned about the state of the Global Environment. Source: 'The Responsible Organisation', nVision Research (with the Future Foundation and BT), 2006
- 27% of respondents to an online survey were aware of the impact of tourism on the environment and were intending to, or had already, changed their behaviour. Source: “Sustainable Tourism 2007, the UK Domestic Perspective” by Jigsaw Research for VisitBritain, April 2007
- One-in-three (33%) of UK adults would support new taxes on air fares if the money raised were used to offset the environmental damage caused by flights, according to new research. In addition, 19% of UK adults say they are already taking, or will in future take, more holidays in the UK in response to environmental concerns. Source: Hyder Consulting Sept 2007
- 45% of those interviewed (potentially 22m consumers if the sample is representative) said that the impact of their holiday on the environment was very important or important to them when choosing a holiday destination. 9% of the ABs interviewed had made a payment to compensate for environmental impact of a holiday in last 12 months". Source: Environmental Issues when choosing holidays - results from series of questions on TNS Online Omnibus.
- General Scottish Visitor Attitudes information is available here.
TRAVEL and AVIATION
- The growth in air travel has been key driver of tourism volume growth into (and out of) the UK. The greatest environmental impacts from tourism are caused by air travel, followed by other forms of transport, then accommodation. The key factors for determining the environmental impact of tourism are trip volume and frequency, travel distance, length of stay, season, accommodation type. Source: “Mapping of evidence and trends in sustainable tourism” by SQW for DEFRA, May 2007
- Aviation emissions will double between 2000 and 2030, in both absolute and relative terms. Even allowing for significant efficiency improvements, the carbon dioxide emissions from aviation are forecast to reach between 17.4 million and 44.4 million tonnes of carbon by 2050 – an increase of 4 to 10 times 1990 levels. To offset the carbon dioxide emitted by aviation, other sectors would need to reduce their emissions by 71%–87% instead of 60% by 2050 from 1990 levels. Source: “Predict and Decide”, University of Oxford, Environmental Change Institute, September 2006
POLICY and GOVERNMENT
- Focus group participants saw government having more of a role than industry in reducing the impact of leisure and tourism on the environment. The reasons being that they saw government taking the lead on environmental issues such as recycling, government input was seen to be necessary to solve large scale problems that were beyond the reach of individuals and it was argued that the British government or governments around the world were responsible for causing problems in the first place or at least allowing them to happen. Source: “Public understanding of sustainable leisure and tourism” report for DEFRA, School of Management, University of Surrey, June 2007
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