Estimating the carbon footprint of Australian tourism

Abstract

This paper explores the issues in estimating the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the tourism industry and related activity in Australia. The scope of tourism consists of the economic activities defined as “tourism characteristic” and “tourism connected” as defined in the Australian Tourism Satellite Account (TSA). Two approaches are employed and contrasted – a “production approach” and an “expenditure approach”. Depending on the approach, tourism contributes between 3.9% and 5.3% of total industry GHG in Australia. The rationale for each approach is explained. The GHG emissions have been estimated for 2003–2004, the latest year for which detailed industry GHG emissions data are available in a form suitable for this type of analysis. Tourism's GHG emissions are compared with other industries in the Australian economy. The policy implications of the results are discussed. It should be possible to adopt a broadly similar method for any destination with TSA – enabling tourism stakeholders to play an informed role in assessing appropriate and effective climate change mitigation strategies for their destination.