peter burns - tourism and climate change (global perspectives)
TRANSCRIPT
Professor Peter BurnsProject International Chief Technical Adviser University of Bedfordshire
Tourism and Climate Change: Global Perspectives
The shift from 20th to 21st century living• The death of distance (Cairncross)• Demographics
• Different for developed and developing worlds• Fragmented and single family units• Shift to urban living (2007 crossed the 50%
threshold)• Gender equality remains unsatisfactory
• Liquid modernity (Bauman)• Tourism mobility no longer a by product of
household surplus income• Search for ‘authenticity, inspiration, rejuvenation’• Emergence of the ‘sharing economy’
Remapping global politics and economics
• Fukuyama was wrong!• The ‘rise of the rest’
(Zakaria’s post-American global economy)
• Wall Street ethos of ‘Greed is good’ was wrong and is wrong
• Globally, poor gender balance is still inhibiting equality and growth
http://logicalscience.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_archive.html
http://panokroko.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/the-environmental-parliament-issued-report-that-says-governments-should-act-forcefully/screen-shot-2012-12-19-at-11-18-02/
SE Europe under threat 2050?
Extreme positions for tourism…
• Worst case scenario: oil prices and global warming may produce such catastrophic changes to society that tourism becomes irrelevant to society
• Best case scenario: adaptation, mitigation, and technological innovation reduce tourism’s carbon footprint to zero
• Just a thought: Can interactive technology offer carbon-neutral virtual tourist experiences through shared virtual environments?
Tourism summary…
• The traditional climate/ weather/ tourism relationship is no longer a stable or reliable part of the product mix
• Changes in consumption patterns and climatic conditions will impact on suppliers and destinations
• Climate change impacts will happen up and down the value/ supply chains creating opportunities and need for innovation, adaptation, and mitigation